Spies, Wings, Lies and Findings
by fleurgold
Summary: Majorly Alternate Universe. Another mission, but this time, there's more to it than just investigating someone. When a certain group of kids gets involved, and a certain unit shows up boasting a new member, things just get more complicated.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So, um, this'll be my first crossover fan fiction. But it's also completely Alternate Universe, because in this version, Alex is a girl. Instead of a guy. If you don't like that, then don't read this. There are reasons why I wrote it like this. If you are deeply interested on why, then just ask. I'm just too lazy to explain it all right here. I will accept constructive criticism. This is about two years later, so Alex is 16, along with Max, Fang, and Iggy. It takes place after all current books written in both series. Anywho's I suppose I should just let you get to the reading…Right after this short disclaimer:**

**All characters of the Alex Rider series belong to James Patterson, and all those characters from the Maximum Ride series belong to Anthony Horowitz. Oh, um, I mean that the other way around. Alex Rider=Anthony Horowitz, and Max Ride=James Patterson. No copyright infringement intended, et al.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter One

I looked at the Flock, grimacing just the littlest bit. I had been in the middle of talking with Dr. Valencia Martinez, and her daughter, Ella, at the veterinarian's clinic. I had needed some information, when the bird-kids had shown up. Of course, my mission had nothing to do with them. Until the black haired teen attacked me with what seemed to be vicious force. Being me, I defended myself fairly well.

"Will you back off?" I exclaimed, frowning and taking a deep breath. "I haven't done anything to you!"

The oldest girl stepped forward, placing herself conveniently in between Valencia and me. She glared at me, but, in all reality, I'd seen scarier, so I sighed and crossed my arms across my chest, and smirked at her. "Really? That's your best glare? I've seen scared shitless criminal overlords do better." I said frankly, nodding a little. She was pretty shocked, and so were the rest of the flock.

"Alleluia! We've found someone who can stand up to Max's glare! Gazzy, we've been saved!" The blonde tall boy yelled, before high-fiving a smaller blonde boy. I raised an eyebrow in question, before shaking my head gently and brushing it off. I had a job to do. Valencia Martinez had survived captivity of Mr. Chu. I needed to know what she knew, however little information it was.

A blonde curly-haired little girl stepped forward, looking at me with curiosity that just didn't fit her young eyes. Though she was about four feet tall, she didn't actually look much older than eight.

"I'm nine. And why do you need information about Max's mom's kidnapping?" She asked.

I was fairly surprised, though I didn't show it. Not much surprised me anymore. Not after all I'd been through, all I'd seen. It seemed as though this little girl, though it would've been hard to accept for a normal person, it seemed like she read my mind. I pursed my lips at her. "You did just read my mind, right?" I asked. When she nodded, I gave her a little smile, which actually seemed to shock all present. They didn't seem to think I'd accept it so easily. "Right, okay. So, then I suppose you want some answers, right?" I asked again.

This time, Valencia cut in. "Yes, some answers would be nice. Like why you just showed up here asking me about my kidnapping. And Mr. Chu. Why would you need to know about him, of all people?" She asked.

I bit my lip. "Uh, you might want to sit down. Because I'm going to sit down, trust me. It's not an easy thing to believe, or accept." I said, grabbing the chair that was pushed under a desk beside me, and sat down, clasping my hands in my lap. When only Valencia and Ella sat down, while the Flock seemed more comfortable to stand, I decided that was my cue to start talking. 'Well, it's more pleasant than other interrogations I've been through…' I shuddered quite visibly at the thought, and then flashed worried eyes to the little girl, who looked back at me with frightened eyes.

"Just who the hell are you?" She whispered. She moved over to the older girl, Max, and clenched on to her arm. That made Max worried for her, and only more pissed off at me.

"You saw that, then. Sorry." I muttered, hanging my head for a moment. "So, who the hell am I? Well, I am Alexis Rider. Most people just call me Alex though, or Rider. I am sixteen years old. I should be preparing for my GSCE's. Instead I'm missing school because my uncle lied to me his whole life, while preparing me for a life I didn't want in the first place." I paused and took a shaky breath. "Long story short, I'm an agent for MI6. I don't really have a choice. About Mr. Chu? I need to know whatever I can about him. CIA basically borrowed me for another mission, and it was investigating Mr. Chu's corporation. I did have two partners, but they're gone now." I looked down at the floor, glaring. It was my stupidity and recklessness that had gotten my partners killed. I knew it as well as I knew how much Alan Blunt and the CIA were using me.

I slowly stood up, and if there had been enough room, I would've paced. "I'm fairly sure Mr. Chu is working for SCORPIA. I'm not one hundred percent, but I've gotta know what I'm up against." I looked up at Dr. Martinez, and I was fairly sure that my eyes were hard and cold, because she flinched. "I've never failed a mission. I'm being forced to do this, because they know that only I can do it. I've been underestimated too many times to count. I've seen things no teenager should ever have to see," At this I looked at Max, the dark boy, and the blonde one for a second, before turning back to Valencia, "Only to save the innocent, and not so innocent people of the world. I've been threatened, tortured, and much more that I'd rather not discuss right now. I need to stop Mr. Chu, and whatever the fuck he is planning, and I need whatever you know to stop him." I exhaled, and turned to Max, "Excuse my language." I added, motioning to the little girl, and the boy named Gazzy.

Ella took her turn to speak up, and stepped a little out from behind her mother. "Um, are you on any drugs, or medicines?" She asked, looking at me like I was crazy.

"No, I am not." I replied stiffly. Her question was under the same assumptions and rumors that were currently flying around my school about my long absences from attending school, and how I always came back with injuries. "Besides, why would I make something like this up? SCORPIA never forgets or forgives. I have been the indirect cause of four board members' deaths, and the direct cause three failed plans. They currently control over half of the world's international organized crime, and over ninety-seven percent of civilians on this planet haven't even heard of them."

Valencia nodded, and frowned. "Chu did say some stuff. I can't remember too well, but he mentioned someone named Kurst, or something, and a Dr. Three. He had been talking with a man who had an Australian accent, and gold teeth? I don't know if this is important, but it's something that sticks out in my memory." She said, briefly closing her eyes to try and remember more.

I started grinning ear to ear, and when the little girl read my mind, so did she. "So, I was right, 'cause Zeljan Kurst is one of the board members of SCORPIA, as is Dr. Three. And the Australian man. That's most of the remaining board members right there. There's only one more, I'm fairly sure, anyways, and that's Levi Kroll. Rothman, Yu, Grendel, Grand and Mikato are dead. The other three died before I got dragged into this world. When SCORPIA was first started, there were twelve board members from around the world. Mr. Chu might just be a replacement, or working with them, but he isn't one of the original board members." I explained. I gave a little laugh, and turned to Valencia. "Thanks. I needed that. That's the best news I've had in a long time."

I turned around, and picked up my backpack. "Now, I've gotta go. I've got what I needed, and sticking around you guys much longer might just attract more trouble, which, I'm sure you guys, of all people, don't want. Thanks, once again. You've got no idea how much this means." I left the room, and expertly navigated the hallways around crates, vets, animals, and pet owners.

I looked up at the sun when I exited the building, and went over to the bike rack where my bike was locked. It wasn't just any bike though. Smithers had built it for me, and there were a multitude of gadgets added on to it. I hadn't discovered them all yet, and I figured I wouldn't for a long time.

I had been just about to pedal off when the Flock and the Martinez's came almost running out of the building, the little blonde bird-kid running up to me, and reaching me first. "I asked Max, and Max's mom, if you could stay with us for just a little while. They said you could. And you need the rest. I know you do. My name's Angel, by the way, and that's Nudge, and Fang, and Max, and Gazzy, and Iggy." She explained, pointing them all out as she introduced them. "And that's Ella, and Dr. Martinez." She added, though she had to know that I'd already known their names.

I seriously mulled it over for a few minutes. Angel was right. I needed rest. I hadn't actually slept for a good eighty-something hours. I was not performing at my best, and if I was attacked, I wouldn't be able to fight for too long. On the other hand, I didn't want to put even more people in danger. That was a huge thing for me too. It always made me choose no, just like I would now. Angel glared at me, and turned to Max, silently communicating with her, or something.

I leaned on my right foot, still straddling my bike, with one hand on the handles, and my other foot on a pedal. I was ready to go at any moment. I sighed as Max, Valencia and Angel walked a bit away to discuss my staying with them, and how to convince me to stay, even for a little while.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I knew someone was watching me. I frowned a little, and dismounted my bike, turning slowly in a three-sixty, glancing at every window, and rooftop, trying to determine where whoever it was watching me. Instantly, seeing my alert, Nudge, Fang and Gazzy also looked around. Fang quickly tapped Iggy's hand, and muttered something to him. I didn't really pay attention though, my mind already far gone into survival mode. I might have been just paranoid, which after a few moments of Fang, Gazzy and Nudge not seeing anything out of the ordinary, they glanced at me as though I was crazy, or at least paranoid.

I gave it a few more moments, before biting my bottom lip, and turning to them before giving a little shrug. To them, I probably seemed confused. Really, I wasn't. I was more curious, and nervous. I took a few forced breaths, but I didn't try to shake off or ignore the feeling of being watched. Just as I was climbing back on to my bike, I heard something whiz eerily by my ear and then my front tire deflated. I hadn't heard a gunshot, so I figured that whoever shot at me had shot with a silencer on the barrel.

I checked the angle of the shot, and then dropped my bike, turning around and pointing at a window for the benefit of the flock. Max and Angel had both come back over, while Valencia pulled Ella back towards the cover of the building. As I checked the window, I knew I wouldn't see anyone there, but at least I knew I was right now.

I moved forward a bit, swinging my backpack around and kneeling down a bit. I opened my bag, and felt around for a second, while keeping my eyes on the window. I wasn't even thinking, which I knew had Angel confused. I carefully pulled out a black pistol, to the shocked, quiet gasps of the Flock, and I also presumed Ella and Valencia. I stood back up, still moving slowly. I suddenly ran up to the building, silent as ever. I knew even the Flock wouldn't be able to hear me. I was in a completely different state of mind. I reached the wall, and put my back up against it, glancing up at the window, and holding my gun up by my face.

I reached over with one hand and tested the doorknob. It was unlocked. I pushed it open, and took a glance. No one there. I didn't notice Max and fang following me just as silently as I was moving, backing me up. I moved down the dark hallway, glad there were no doors, and only stairs straight ahead. It cut off escape routes and hiding spots for the shooter. I almost ran up the stairs, sticking to the sides, and still moving silently.

I didn't know when I had picked up the skill of moving silently, or taking immediate action without having to think about it. I knew some of the factors though. Like the short time I had spent with SCORPIA. My multiple training weeks with K-Unit at Brecons Beacons. The many missions I had been on in the two or three years that Blunt had been blackmailing into working for MI6. I figured it just added up after a while. Practice makes perfect, right?

I reached the third floor, and made my way over to the first door I had seen in the whole building. It was slightly open, revealing a crack of light in the dim hallway. I lowered one arm, holding the gun at my side, just a bit out of sight. I took a gentle breath in, and pushed open the door, going in and looking around. Once again, there was no one there. But there was another door. Whoever had shot at me was clearly trying to mess with my head. I continued towards the other door, keeping my gun up and my aim straight. I pushed open the door, seeing as it had no handle, and checked the room. The only thing in this room was an empty chair. There wasn't even a window. I frowned a bit. Something just didn't feel right. I took a small step into the room, still frowning. I listened extremely carefully, and heard something. From above me?

I looked up, and then felt the weight of an older, heavier person on top of me. I struggled from beneath them, but before I noticed, they had my gun, and they had me pinned on the ground. This only took a few seconds, and I was, well, taken by surprise, really.

What also only took a few seconds though, was me getting over my shock, escaping from being pinned, running out of the room, through the first room into the hallway, where luckily, Max and fang were waiting, and me slamming the door behind me. A few other things happened as well, that resulted in me having a black eye, and a few scratches, but the assailant was definitely worse off at the moment. I mean, hey, they don't call me the best for nothing, right?

I held the doorknob, and grimaced at Max and fang. "I say we get going. Somewhere far, far away. Right now." I whispered, not really needing to speak any louder. Max and fang ran in front of me, and I followed them closely, in case the guy, or whoever it was was actually still conscious. And following us.

We got outside without a problem, and I grabbed my bike. Max must've said something to the other, because they were already going, with Valencia leading them to the parking lot on the side of the vet clinic. She had a car. For that, I was thankful. I was even more thankful when hey, lookie at that, she had a van! And it sat eight people. Which was close enough. We all clambered in, and I shoved my bike in the back, before hopping in the front. Since Ella and Angel were the smallest, they were sharing a seat. I don't know why I was given the front, but hey, they fact that I could see behind us with the mirror helped.

We ended up driving around for about two hours before going to Valencia's place. I never saw anyone following us, which could be taken as a good sign, or a bad sign. We could've been gone so fast that they didn't get the chance, or they already knew where Valencia lived and were waiting for us there. Because of that situation, I went into the house first, though unarmed, and after checking every room, I declared the house safe for entry.

Max and Fang still looked suspicious, Gazzy looked happy, Iggy's faced was blank, Angel looked relieved, and Nudge looked annoyed. Ella looked kind of tired, actually, and so did Valencia. I guess two hours of driving took it out of a normal person. I frowned at them a bit, just the slightest bit worried for them.

"You two okay? Maybe I should've driven. I do have my license." I said, scratching my head a bit. I was tired as well, but that was for completely different reasons, and I could handle, and would handle it until further notice.

Ella actually snorted a bit. "Your worried about us? You should look in the mirror, Alex. You're in worse shape than us." She replied. I frowned a lot this time, and tilted my head. No one had been concerned about me for a long time. It was…different, and kind of nice. But it still didn't change the fact that I couldn't stay here for very long. The fact that I was attacked had only proven my point that I was like a beacon of light calling out to trouble to come and find me.

I jumped a little and looked up when Angel gently grabbed my arm. "You aren't a beacon for trouble." She said, smiling a little.

I smiled back. "Believe what you will, Angel. But I know from experience." I nodded a little, smirking a little.

She shook her head. "It's hardly a belief." She said, shrugging a little, before walking over and hugging Max. "And I'm nine." She glared up at the older girl. I guessed that Angel had just read Max's mind, and I was correct.

Iggy looked up. "Well, it's been fun and all. But how 'bout some food? I think we're all hungry after our little escapade." He stated, grinning. He then gave Gazzy a high-five, who was also grinning.

I watched a little black Scotty trot by, and then frowned when he looked at me curiously. Wait. A dog, looking at me curiously? It just didn't make sense. Even more didn't make sense when he opened his mouth and words came out. Words of the _human_ English language. Not doggy-talk or anything. Plain, old English.

"Who's the new kid?" He asked, trotting past me over to a water bowl on the floor. He took a few gulps, before talking again. "And why is she sitting in my seat?"

It took a lot to surprise me. I think I've already mentioned this before. You know, when Angel first read my mind? Yeah, then. But this, well, this had me fully surprised, and I was fairly sure my mouth was hanging open. I was, to say the least, speechless. But I wasn't about to move from the chair I had chosen to sit in. Oh no. I had just gotten comfortable.

I shook my head a little and made my face blank for a few seconds to regain my composure. Nudge had giggled with Angel at my reaction, while Gazzy had said something to Iggy, and they along with Fang were snickering.

I shrugged a little. "I hope you guys know that was the first time I've been shocked like that in about three years. It would've been nice of someone to warn me."

Max bent over and picked up the little dog. "Whenever we meet someone new, we just like to see their reaction. This is Total, by the way." Frankly, I didn't remember him in the files I had gotten about these kids. But whatever. It wasn't like I was going to tell the CIA and MI6 to update their files on these kids. They could just find out for themselves.

I smiled a genuine smile for once, though it was small, and I heard little gasps from around the room. "Nice to meet you, Total." I said. Valencia smiled at all of us as she put down a snack platter she had pulled out of the fridge.

I nodded. "Oh, god food looks so good right now." I said in my way of thank you, and grabbed a baby carrot, dipping it in the veggie dip before eating it. I hadn't really eaten much for the past few days. A lot had actually gone on in those days though, and it felt like weeks since my last full meal.

The bird-kids didn't say anything while they ate, but I did wonder some things. The files I had read had very little information. So things like their age had been left out. Also their likes and dislikes, relationships, and Total had been forgotten. The company that had used them as experiments was black out, which meant Blunt didn't want me to know, which only made me even more curious. I knew though that the company had several branches all over the world, operating under different names. But I didn't know any of the names, 'cause they were all blacked out. I wanted to know, but I also didn't want to ask. It was one of those courtesy things. They probably didn't want to talk about it, and it would've been rude to ask. I could just ask Smithers, he'd be able to get the information for me.

Deeps in my own thoughts, I didn't even notice Max and Angel conversing quietly. If I had noticed, then I would've known that Angel was relaying my every thought to Max. I also would've seen the inquiring looks from Fang to Max.

I grabbed an olive stuffed with garlic and popped it in my mouth. Now there was something I hadn't had in a long time. It was a nice treat. I leaned back, and checked the time on the wall clock. It was just a little after fourteen hundred hours. I mean, just after two in the afternoon. 'Scuse my army lingo. That's a bad habit of mine now.

I wondered what I should do. Stay here and risk more innocent people dying, or leave and try to find Chu before he found me. I was really leaning towards the latter option, until Valencia put her hand on my shoulder.

"You have to stay, at least until some of your injuries heal." She said. I opened my mouth to protest and, surprisingly, Max was the one who interrupted.

"You're staying. We outnumber you, and while you might be able to take us all, we will still make you stay. No matter what." She said, standing up. I stood up as well, and noticed we were just about the same height.

I thought about it. Angel was reading my every thought as well, and her face changed depending on what I was thinking. The others could only guess at what was going on, while my face remained blank.

"I'll stay. But no longer than a week. After that, I'll have to leave. And, you know, complete my mission or else the world is surely doomed, or something. Ask Blunt or Byrne about it. I dunno." I said, shrugging a little.

I really don't think that Angel, Nudge or Ella cared that I'd have to leave. They were all smiles and jumping for joy. Max and Fang were both happy that they were happy, while Gazzy and Iggy bombarded me with questions about weapons, and gadgets, but most of all, explosives that I had encountered on my missions. Which was fairly nice, 'cause though I hated Blunt for using me, I did like to shoot a gun every once in a while. Though he forbad me to have guns, I still had my resources. Smithers, enemies turned friends, fights, stealing. The list could go on, really.

Really, time flew. Next thing we knew, we were outside, while Valencia cooked hamburgers on the barbeque. Ella and I were sitting on the grass, while the Flock flew around in the air. Even Total flew. He had wings. Which wasn't really as big a surprise as the fact that he could talk. Ella and me got up and randomly danced around to whatever random music came on.

Highlight of the day? I got to fly. I didn't literally sprout wings and fly. Ella and I had been dancing around when Max and Fang swooped over us and scooped me up. At first instinct took over and I struggled. And then I fell. During that two-second free fall I realized what had happened. Then screamed like a girl. I was angry at my stupidity, surprised quite obviously, and happy and thankful to Max and Fang for allowing me the experience. Then I remembered I was free falling. Which is, if you've got a parachute, quite fun. It's very fun, actually. But without the parachute part, it's actually fairly dangerous.

You know what else is dangerous? A blind bird-kid catching you while free falling. You know what's embarrassing? When you're supposed to be this kick-ass teenage female James Bond, but as soon as a blind bird-kid catches you free falling and you cling to him like he's your last life line. In a way, Iggy was my last lifeline. If he hadn't caught me, I would've gone splat, and thus would end the life of the teenage spy that is I. Of course, if I hadn't been screaming then he wouldn't have known where to be to catch me. In the end, it all worked out.

Eventually darkness fell, Valencia called us in and by then I was used to being tossed around like a sack of potatoes by a bunch of bird-kids. In fact, I was _having fun_ being tossed around like a sack of potatoes. I hadn't actually had fun since…Well, I really don't know. For the heck of it, and because I had a gun tucked into my pants pocket for no apparent and safe reason, Max and Fang dropped me from just the right height, and I did a tuck and roll, pulling out the gun, and holding it up Hollywood-style.

" My name's Bond." I said. "James Bond." Gazzy fell out of the sky laughing, as did Angel. Nudge landed beside me and started talking my ear off again, and Iggy was complaining for someone to tell him what happened. Max and Fang landed near Iggy, and Fang explained, while Max came over. She was laughing, but there was a note of seriousness in her eyes.

"Do you have to carry that everywhere?" She asked walking beside me as we ushered the others inside. Ella, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel all went up to their rooms to get ready for bed, and with just us sixteen-year-olds and Valencia, the atmosphere was fairly serious.

I double-checked the safety before tucking the gun back in my pants pocket. I nodded. "Yeah. I do. The motto of my life is to expect the unexpected and always be prepared. In my type of business even one tiny little mistake could cost you your life. Or it could cost millions of lives. It all really depends on which side you're working for." I explained, taking a seat at the dining room table and accepting a cup of coffee, black, from Valencia. "By the way, we're going to need to do watch shifts." I continued. Valencia was about to cut me off, and I held up a hand. "It may be safe here. But it may not be. And I can only take yes, it's safe, or no, it isn't. There is a shit load of people out there right now who would love to have me dead, and they are probably combing this city from corner to bloody corner to find me. And they aren't going to stop. So we do watch shifts." I paused, and took a huge sip of my coffee. "And I'm taking first shift. No way I'm getting to sleep anytime soon with coffee in my hands."

Max, Fang, and Iggy accepted it fairly easy. Valencia only finally agreed when Max convinced her that it was the best thing we could do. We said our good nights, and then I kicked up my feet onto another chair for then next four hours while I did my shift. As promised, I went and woke up Fang, for his shift. And then I was asleep on his bed. I more or less just hit the wall and fell into deep, dark unconsciousness.

**Author's End Note: So, um, after reading all that, I hope you enjoyed, and I'd like it if you just clicked the little review button and told me your opinion on this piece…^-^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Heyo, all out there. So, even if no one has read this yet, or has and doesn't like it or whatever, here's the second chapter. Um, so I noticed a few typos in chapter one, and I seriously apologize for that. I sometimes don't hit the shift button hard enough, resulting in names and such not capitalized. My friends also say I type weird, so, um, yeah. Anwho's, I'd like to mention now that I'm Canadian. So if I get anything wrong pertaining to either the States or England, sorry, and I beg you to please tell me, and I'll fix it. Anywho's, on with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I hoped today to not wake up in my own bed, but to be a bestselling author. If you can't tell, my wish didn't come true. The original works and all respective copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

Chapter Two

I woke up, not knowing where I was. I mean, I know I was at Valencia's, but I was not in Fang and Iggy's room, where I had fallen asleep. Instead, I was in a big, queen-sized bed. I mumbled something that even I didn't understand, and rolled out of the bed. It was then that I noticed I was in clean clothes. Clean clothes that didn't belong to me. I frowned, wondering how whoever had changed my clothes had done it without waking me up. I must've really needed the sleep.

So, clad in an old baggy t-shirt that fell to my thighs and a pair of pajama shorts that didn't even stick out from under the t-shirt, I meandered my butt down to the kitchen, where I saw everyone else was awake, fully dressed, and having lunch.

Wait. Lunch. Not breakfast, but lunch. "How long did I sleep?" I asked, rubbing my forehead and looking outside, and then at the clock. It was almost fifteen hundred- three o'clock. It was almost three o'clock. I had gone to bed around one in the morning. That meant I had slept for about fourteen hours.

"I told you that you needed the sleep." Angel said, just the slightest bit smug. I just nodded and grinned.

"Ah, but you say it as though I had denied it, when in fact, you of all people should know that I didn't." I replied, smirking at her. I had her there, and she knew it. "Angel, you can try, but you can't beat me at the mental chess game. Sorry." I added grinning at her. I had flashed her just a funny memory from one time when I was captive. She broke out in laughter, like I figured she would.

"He made you play life or death chess?" She asked between deep gasps from laughing too hard.

I rolled my eyes. "Yup. He did. And guess what? I won. Only 'cause I used to have a friend who was a chess fanatic and she told me all the tricks. Well, more like forced me to memorize them, but hey, it saved my pinky finger, right?" I said, waggling my little finger on my left hand in the air.

The others just watched us in semi-fascination, and like we were complete freaks, seeing as they had no clue what the hell we were talking about. I sat down beside her, and in one of the two empty chairs available. Valencia was busy doing something in the kitchen, but I couldn't see what. It smelled fantastic though, and seemed to have Max on edge. I shrugged it off though, seeing many egg salad sandwiches, and other little sandwiches on a platter in the middle of the dining table. I grabbed a little disposable plate a grabbed a couple egg salad, and a couple ones that had roast beef lunch meat on them. I ate them pretty fast. Sleeping fourteen hours apparently makes you hungry. Try it some time. Maybe you'll see what I mean.

Valencia came into the dining room, and smiled at me. "Glad to see you're up." She said. She placed a plate on the table. It had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Max reached out and grabbed one, smiling. I guessed this is what she was all excited for. I looked to Angel and raised my eyebrow in question. She knew of my strict SAS diet, and I was wondering whether I should have a cookie or not, even though the Sergeant would call it junk. She nodded in approval, and I grabbed one.

After eating it, I frowned. Max looked at me. "Is there something wrong Alex?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No, nothing's wrong, Max. Except for the fact that I haven't had a cookie that good in a long time, let alone a cookie. Darn SAS food hardly tastes that good. Nor are we really allowed to eat much junk or whatever when we're on breaks, and such. We gotta stay in shape and healthy, right?" I replied, asking the rhetorical question. I frowned again, and grabbed another cookie. "What the Sergeant doesn't know won't hurt him. Just if you ever meet him, don't rat me out. I'd probably get kitchen duty or something, which is never fun."

In the background, coming from the kitchen I was sure, I heard a radio. I had noticed it earlier, but now it really caught my attention as The Call by Regina Spektor started to play. I love that song, and I started to sing along quietly. Iggy, who was sitting next to me so he was the only one who could hear me singing, faced me, mouth agape.

"Sing louder, damn it." He commanded. "You're really good." I felt the breath whoosh out of my chest. The song ended, and then a song I knew by Dave Matthews Band came on. I sang along to that, still fairly quiet, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The instrumental came on, and I frowned. Everyone was watching me so interested.

"I am no hero, oh that's for sure. But I do know one thing, is where you are, is where I belong. I do know where you go, is where I wanna be. Where are you going? Where do you go? And where are you going? Where, do you go?" I sang, taking a deep breath as the song finished. Nudge and Ella started freaking out.

"Holy crap, Alex! You are good! Sheesh, why didn't you say so yesterday? Why didn't you show us yesterday?" Nudge exclaimed, leaning forward in her chair. Ella was nodding along with Nudge's questions, but was leaving the talking up to Nudge.

"Um, I didn't know I could sing?" I replied, phrasing it as a question. I hadn't sung since middle school, before my uncle died. My friend's had told me I had a great singing voice, but I guess I had never really thought of it as much more than that. I had really been more of a football girl. Or soccer. Depends on where you are for what you call it, right? Of course, with missing so much school to go on missions I had actually lost my spot on the football team, was failing all of my courses, and I was probably go to get held back a year or two. Blunt knew this too; I had had a huge freak out at him when he called me in for this mission. I really hoped he had some plan up his gray suit sleeve to solve the whole schooling issue, something that didn't involve K-Unit, and Brecons Beacons. I seriously wondered what Tom, my childhood, and best friend would think when I just disappeared. He knew about my secret life. Heck, he had even met K-Unit, even though Blunt didn't know, which really surprised me. Or he did know, and was just letting me have this one thing. But I doubted that. Blunt was a by-the-book person, and if he wasn't, then Tulip Jones was. But she did hold more sympathy for me, so if she knew, then maybe she just didn't tell Blunt. Somehow, I doubted that too. I resolved to investigate it once I got home.

I stood briefly to grab my backpack. We luckily hadn't forgotten it at the vet clinic. I rifled through it, pulling out files first, tossing them onto the table, and then pulling out my laptop from Smithers. It was a brand new hot pink Dell Inspiron, in his attempt to 'girlify' my gadgets and such. It had Windows 7, IE8, and all the latest computer stuff. And whatever Smithers had added to it. Which was extremely likely that he had taken it apart and put back together. I opened Internet Explorer and navigated to . I had constant satellite Internet, completely secure and completely untraceable, courtesy of MI6.

I checked my mail ignoring the few junks letters, and an email from Tom. There was an e-mail marked urgent from K-Unit. I frowned and opened it.

'_Cub, we're coming to find you. Something has come up, and MI6 is sending us to help you. We should be in the city you're in by Thursday. Meet us at the mall, at the Starbuck's Café. One of us will be obvious, while the others will be hiding. I'm seriously hoping you get this, Al. Ben.'_

I looked up to Valencia. "It's Thursday, isn't it?" I asked. I reached down to my pack and closed the top. Then I flipped it upside down and pulled out a change of clothes. Looking back up, she nodded. I closed the laptop without even shutting it down first. "Then we need to get to the mall. Something has come up. You guys can tag along if you want, but it is at your own risk. And while I'm changing, don't touch the laptop. It's calibrated to my fingerprints only, and if anyone else tries to use it, then it will blow up."

I ran up the stairs two at a time, and found the bathroom. I quickly changed, used to being rushed, and under pressure. I frowned at my shoulder length blondish hair that was a mess. I ran my fingers through it and pulled it up into a ponytail with the hair elastic on my wrist. It was still a bit messy, but it would have to do. I was now wearing a pair of denim short shorts, and a cherry red spaghetti strap camisole. It was typical clothing for a teen, and her luckily tanned, sporty body helped fit the part of a tanned, sporty, typical teenage girl. I put the borrowed pajamas in the hamper, and bounced back downstairs.

I didn't even look at Fang, or Gazzy, or Nudge and Ella. "Quit gaping. I had a role to play on this mission." I picked up my bag again, and opened the top. I first pulled out a pair of designer sunglasses, which I put on my head. Then I pulled out a cream from Smithers. I opened the top, and dabbed it onto all the bruises and cuts that were visible, and the scar from the bullet wound I had gotten from SCORPIA a couple years back. Suddenly, my skin was flawless and perfectly tanned. I put the cream back in the bag, and pulled out a pair of sandals. They looked designer and all that, but really, they provided all the support, and wear as a good pair of sneakers. Which meant I could run and fight, and do whatever, while keeping up my façade.

I sat and slipped on the shoes, before standing and turning to Valencia. I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes, and grinned. "Okay, let's go get this thing done. Now, I did promise to stay a week, and I stick to my promises. So, I'll keep my stuff here." I said. I dug around in my bag for a second and pulled out a wad of money, and a couple cards, which I promptly stuffed into my back pocket. "Except I'm taking these with me. Just in case." I added.

Ella squealed. "Oh. My. God. You look so good, Alex!" She said, following Nudge and Valencia out the door. Once more, we all clambered into the van. Except Valencia, who held the driver's door open, and motioned to it. "Would you like to drive this time?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, and grinning.

I nodded, and caught the keys she tossed at me. She went around to the passenger seat as I went to the driver's seat. I sat, closed the door and buckled my seat belt. I adjusted the seat and steering wheel to where it was comfortable for me, and started the van. "Okay, so mall with a Starbucks. Where are we going?" I asked as I reversed out of the drive and started down the street. I kept it all legal speed limit and such, stopping at lights, and signs, while Valencia directed me to the correct mall, with a little help from Ella.

I parked the van, and grinned. "Considering I've never driven a van before, I think I did it fairly well." I climbed out, and pushed my sunglasses back up onto the top of my head.

Gazzy and Iggy nodded. "You did better than Max." Gazzy said, dodging out of Max's reach as she went to smack him.

"I have to agree with that." Fang added, and he gave Max a hug from behind.

We entered the mall on the second floor, right near the Starbucks. Valencia encouraged Ella, Nudge and Angel and Gazzy to go explore the mall while we got this done and over with. Sure, they knew about my life, but we still kept them as detached as possible.

I walked into the Starbucks, and asked for the cold drink with the least amount of calories and paid when I got it. Acting as any teen would, I turned around, then called out to Ben when I spotted him.

"Benny! Never thought I'd see you here! Come, sit with me and my friends!" I exclaimed. Valencia, Max, Fang and Iggy were sitting at a table that was actually outside of the actually café. They had pulled a couple tables together to accommodate the group. I sat next to Iggy, who was next to Valencia. Max and Fang were across from them, and Ben was across from me, next to Fang. Wolf and Snake came over, and Wolf sat on my right with Snake on his right at the head of the table. Eagle sat on Ben's left, and looked me up and down.

"Really, Cub, you clean up good!" Eagle exclaimed quietly, which was surprising for him. Really, I couldn't wait for him to meet Nudge. Yeah, sure they were really different, but they did have one thing in common. They both talked about completely irrelevant subjects to the current situation on hand.

"Took you long enough to get here. We've been here since nine. We had to switch around whoever was in the store." Wolf grumbled. He was obviously very annoyed, and I could understand why.

I nodded. "I slept fairly late." I replied, and Iggy snickered. I elbowed him and continued. "I didn't get the email until about half and hour ago." I took a long sip of my drink. I could taste the caffeine so much, and I loved it. I definitely needed it.

Nudge and Ella bounced over, desperate to show Valencia something. I smiled at Nudge's inquiring looks, and mouthed 'later' before she could open her mouth. Ella received some money from Valencia that she was told to split with the others, and they ran off to the others, waving it in the air and yelling about how they succeeded.

A group of teenage girls walked by, and giggled about K-Unit. And then one of them saw me, and frowned. I could easily tell she was looking at my sunglasses.

"Hey, are those the new Christian Dior sunglasses(1)?" She asked, putting on hand on her hip, and pointing with her other hand. Surprisingly, I had next to no clue about what the hell she was talking about, so I nodded.

"Yeah, I totally got them shipped in from Europe." I replied, acting the best I could. Max chipped in and reached across Fang, and touched my elbow.

"And they cost you a fortune. I still call you crazy for that." She said, nodding to the girls, who nodded back, and then walked away, giggling and looking back once or twice.

"Well, that was different." Snake stated, shrugging a bit, and nudging Wolf hard enough that he nudged me. Wolf glared at him and I turned to Max.

"Now, if you perfected Wolf's glare, then I might be a teensy bit scared." I said, motioning to his angry face with my thumb. She nodded her agreement.

"I, from this day forward, vow to try my beast in A) perfecting Wolf's glare, and B) never to piss off Wolf." She promised, holding up her right hand. We stared at each other, and then we both laughed.

"Right. Cause that'll never happen. Trust me Max, someday, somehow, you'll piss off Wolf. When that happens, I have one bit of advice. Run." I replied, grinning at her. "Ow!" I exclaimed as wolf smacked me upside the head. I wasn't lying either. It did hurt; he hit me hard.

"Let's get down to business, then. Al, we've got big news. It could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it." Ben said. He paused while Snake pulled up an empty chair beside him, before continuing. "Long story short, we've got a new K-unit member. 'Course, it's just our luck to get stuck with another MI6 agent, though he's been an agent for an even shorter time than you. You might recognize him though."

A graceful form sat himself next to Snake. He last time I had seen him was when he had been dying from being shot. He told me some things that maybe he shouldn't have. Things that got me in huge trouble. That trouble led to me being shot right on MI6's front steps. I stood up and slammed my hands down on the table with enough force to make my drink 'jump' a bit off the table. I was full force angry, and even Wolf moved away an inch.

"You're supposed to be dead." I stated. I turned to Ben, glaring so much that he flinch when I turned my gaze to him. "What the bloody hell is going on?" I growled, demanding an explanation.

He took a deep breath before replying. "We can't really explain that here. We'd need a secure location." He said, waving his arm around as if to motion to all the people. "We could go back to our hotel-"

"No." I said. I turned to Valencia, raising my eyebrow in question. She knew what I wanted, and she nodded in reply. "Gimme the keys to your car, or whatever." I said to Ben, holding out my hand.

"We rented a van, and Wolf has them." He replied shortly.

Before I even looked at Wolf, he had put the keys in my hand. I pulled out Valencia's keys, and tossed them to her. "I'll follow you."

This was where Eagle pushed back his chair and stood up. "You're going to drive? We're all going to die! I've seen you on a four-wheeler Cub! You're a crazy driver!" He exclaimed, looking at the other members of K-Unit.

I tossed my license at Eagle, and he caught it. "There's my proof that I'm a safe driver on the road, Eagle. You can't deny it." I caught it when he flicked it back. "But for those comments, I think I might just take the roads out of town, and we'll go for a little detour." I added, smirking at him. He was visibly frightened, and who could blame him? I had constantly bumped him around when we were on the four-wheelers.

Valencia motioned for Angel, Ella, Nudge and Gazzy to come over, and she nodded at me. "We'll meet by the exit gate." I nodded to that, and she ushered the other out to her van.

I grabbed my drink and finished off the last half of it it a few gulps, and held up my hand when snake was about to comment on the health issues of chugging drinks. I only knew he would because he lectured me every time I ate too fast, or chugged my drinks, or whatever. "Lead the way to the van. Lecture me later." I said.

We reached the van, which was painted a typical black with tinted windows. I shook my head and climbed in, pulling down my sunglasses as I turned it on. I manipulated the parking lot, and honked at Valencia when I was there. I followed her back to the house, but I parked out by the curb instead of in her driveway.

"We're trading that in really soon. It sticks out too much." I said as I climbed out. I walked up to the house and intercepted Angel before she could go hide and 'listen' in on the argument that was sure to ensue. "I want you, Nudge, Gazzy, and Ella to not be here when this goes down. I'll give you and the others the play-by-play after, okay?"

Max backed me up, and helped convince them to go to the park that was nearby. We smiled and sighed at each other. Now I could deal with this without scaring Angel with my thoughts or anything, which was the real reason why we wanted them to go.

I followed Valencia and Max in, closely followed by K-Unit and the new 'member'. I still couldn't believe it, but I also didn't want to believe it. Here was a man I had seen shot before me, for refusing to shoot me. I sat at the dining table and took a deep breath while dropping my head into my hands. I wanted explanations before we even continued with why K-Unit was here.

Ben sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. "It's perfectly fine, Al." He said, trying to comfort me.

I actually laughed, and patted his arm. "I don't need comforting, Fox. I need answers." I said, smiling at him. Wolf opened his mouth, and I shook my head. "Not from you."

"But from me, right Alex?" Yassen said, sitting, thankfully, on the other side of the table. I didn't want to be near him really. I mean, come on, he was supposed to be dead. I saw him die on Air Force one for refusing to kill me. I nodded, and crossed my arms across my chest, leaning back in my chair. K-unit was on my left, Fox and Snake sitting, the rest standing, while Max and Fang were sitting next to me on my right, Iggy was leaning against the wall, and Valencia was standing behind me and Max, assuming the protective motherly role that fit her so well.

"Well, there was medical help everywhere around the plane as they saw it was going to crash. Help arrived and stabilized me, and when MI6 showed up, they took me into custody, and took you to St. Dominic's. After about a year in custody, Blunt and I had a talk. I could either go to jail for the rest of my life, or I could work for him. Since then, this is my first mission." He gave me the short version, and I knew that there was more to it than that.

Fox spoke up. "I've been told to report back to Blunt how well you two work together." He told me, and I grimaced. I knew exactly what Blunt wanted.

"So, that's his game then? Well, isn't that too damn bad for him. You tell Blunt that I say no way that is happening." I muttered, though everyone could still hear what I had said.

"Cub, he's good. Why don't you want to work with him?" Eagle asked.

"Yeah, he's actually really a jack of all trades." Snake added in.

I shook my head again, feeling little blonde strands fall across my face. I swept them away. "It isn't that I don't want to work with him. Okay, well, it's partially that, but only because I don't really trust you. A lot of shit has hit the fan between us." I paused while he nodded in agreement. "Blunt promised me this would be my last mission until I was eighteen, and then I could make the final choice. Join MI6, or live a normal life. But even then, he knows what I'll say. It's just I hate being used the way he is using me. I don't get a choice in any of this. I never do. You guys know he blackmails me into every mission I go on, right? If I don't go on a mission, then he'll deport Jack, and just put me in an orphanage where they'll have no problem with sending me off on another mission."

I stopped my rant, and realized what I had been saying. I just spilled my guts and all the gushy emotions in my heart and soul to K-Unit, and Yassen. Not to forget the fact that Max, Fang, Iggy and Valencia were there. I felt my face flush just the slightest, and dropped my forehead to the table, which only resulted in a semi-loud bang, and my forehead hurting. "Someone shoot me now please." I muttered. It was so quiet in the room that I just knew everyone heard me.

Valencia rubbed my back, and Max squeezed my shoulder. "Good thing we sent Angel and the others away for a bit." Max said. I nodded, my head still on the table. I had been so close to being free. Just one more mission, and then I could be a reckless teenager for two years before going back. But no, of course I can't live a normal life. Blunt just wouldn't have it. He was damn lucky he wasn't telling me this personally. I would've had his head for this, this, betrayal. Because in essence, that's what it was. I had been once more played for a fool, and tricked into having to work with MI6. Only now, it was worse. I'd have to work with Yassen Gregorovich. The person who shot my uncle and got me thrown into this world before I was damn well ready.

"Well, there's more to it than just that, Al." Fox said, pulling something out of his bag and placing it on the table. Glancing up, I saw that it was a fairly thick file. A few more papers and what looked like a passport were placed beside the file. I already knew the file was mine; only because it had doodles all over it from when I'd have to sit in Blunt's office for hours on end. I was quite happy when he was annoyed by it, and Mrs. Jones convinced him to keep it like that. She had said something like I had shown great artistic ability, and that I should at least get this one thing.

I reached for the other documents. Two of them were forms, filled out, and the other was a passport. One form was for the immediate deportation of Jack Starbright. It was dated for about a week before. Blunt had double-crossed me. I knew it was just a copy of the original, but I ripped up the form anyways, before looking at the next. It was a signed adoption form, and I felt my blood boil. Blunt's signature was on one line; sharp, precise, and very clear. The one next to that was loopy yet small, and notably harder to make out. For consistencies sake, I ripped that one in half as well, placing it on top of the remains of the first form.

Flipping open the passport, I started shaking my head right away. "Not happening. Like, ever. Not in this life, or the next." I said, tossing the little, fairly inoffensive book onto the table. It was the information inside that I refused, though I knew it was futile.

Pushing away from the table, I flipped on the radio, figuring it's help me calm down a bit. Not finding a good station, I switched it over to CD, and put in the first interesting looking mixed CD. I searched through the song finding a familiar one before sitting back down.

"I remember the days when we talked for hours. And we were young; we thought we had superpowers. We kissed the sky, expanded our minds, thought we could fly. We were dreamers, and we'd never die," I sung quietly, waiting for K-Unit to say something.

Yassen pushed the passport back towards me. "You don't have a choice, Alex. Nor do I. The only difference is that I accept that, while you don't."

"And just what is your point? You get to keep your last name. I've lost the last person who I considered family. I'm being used, again. I now I have to lose my last name, which, despite others who carried it, I still consider a part of me. On top of all that, I'd have to work with you." I replied, grimacing at the end. Picturing the signature on the adoption form, I could tell what it said; _Yassen Gregorovich_.

"Would now be a good time to mention that you also have to be trained by me?"

**Author's Note: (1)- I'm such a tom boy, I had to research for a pair of designer sunglasses. Is that bad?**

**Anyhoos, there's chapter two up. I'd like some feedback if you actually read this far. Not much to say here, I suppose. See you all later! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: I only just realized this as I started chapter four, but chapter three is shorter than the first two chapters by quite a bit. I don't know. I suppose it just kind of happened like that. Please don't kill me! Eh…Anywho's, so here is chapter three for you all out there reading this. Um, there's some swearing in this chapter, and a little violence. I suppose I should warn you.**

Chapter Three

At that I pushed my chair roughly backwards. "You have a way to contact Blunt?" I asked Ben, barely concealing my anger. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. I grabbed it from him, standing and pacing. Searching through the address book was the first thought that I had, and the number for the Royal & General was the only number there. Blunt himself picked up on the other end.

"How are they cooperating, Agent Daniels?" He asked right out.

"You're dead the next time I see you." I growled into the phone, promptly hanging up and tossing the phone back to Fox.

I slipped off my modified heels, and slipped on my sneakers. I was fairly glad they were at the front door. Glancing up at Max, I gave a little shrug to her inquiring look.

"You can get the others now. I'm going for a jog." I muttered, standing and taking a quick stretch.

"Cub," Wolf started. He didn't get very far.

"I'm going for a jog." I insisted.

"Yeah, we know. I just wanted to say be careful." He finished, giving me a look of, 'come back in one piece, or I'll bury you alive'.

"Yup. Gotcha. Careful." I muttered, closing the door behind me with more force than I intended to.

I started out at a jog, and then moved on to a sprint. I didn't feel as though I was moving fast enough, despite the fact that my lungs and throat were burning from breathing so hard, and the remnants of the bullet wound were still very painful. With my heart beating so fast, it felt as though someone was continually slamming a hammer where the bullet had pierced. After about five minutes of hard running, I slowed down to a walk, looking around me.

I obviously didn't recognize where I was, and felt like a complete idiot. I wasn't back home in Chelsea. I knew that. Turning a corner, I could see that some teens were throwing a house party, despite that it was only about supper time. I planned on asking one of them how to get back, before remembering that I didn't even know Valencia's address. Poor planning on my part, and I knew it, too.

I turned around, looking for something familiar. Apparently, that would be harder than I though it would be. I sighed, and started heading in what I though might be a good direction. I was walking for about ten minutes when I heard something whiz by my ear. Given recent circumstances, I whipped around, seeing a dead agent on the ground, with a gun in hand. But, a dead agent couldn't shoot a gun.

Barely having time to process that, Yassen was beside me. I did a double take.

"What the fu-" I started to ask before he covered my mouth and dragged me back to where he'd been hiding, a small alley way between two houses.

"You're a complete idiot, Alex!" He whisper-shouted, while watching the street for more persons-of-suspect. I didn't know if they were spies, or assassins or what. Ah, the reprieve of blessed ignorance. He'd taken his hand off my mouth, and I really felt like biting him for that.

"No shit, Sherlock!" I whispered back. "How long'd it take ya to figure that one out?" I wasn't going to deny it. I had been an idiot to go running off with no directions. I still would've run off with or without an idea of where I was going.

I'd needed to blow off steam, before I seriously punched someone in the face. Probably Eagle or Yassen. Maybe Ben. I technically hadn't calmed down yet, but I was watching the goings on from my hiding spot behind an air conditioner.

A few more people showed up, looking around with deep interest once they spotted their dead comrade. One spoke into a walkie-talkie, and a few minutes later, a van pulled up, removing the body, blood, and the other agents.

We waited a few more minutes before surrendering our hiding spot. I quietly followed Yassen; he seemed to know where he was going. Generally, it was fairly hard to tell what he was feeling or thinking, but this time was a little different. He seemed mad. Like, worse-than-Wolf mad.

The walk back to the house was less than ten minutes, which made me frown. I must have run in circles at points, because I'd run far and hard. Longer and farther away than ten minutes, at least. Yassen held open the door for me, to make me enter first, and I ducked my head to avoid his gaze.

I was unprepared for when Angel tackled me once I'd entered the kitchen. It only lasted a second though, before she was standing beside me, clamped onto my arm. Giving her a little smile, I noticed she was sniffling, and that her eyes were red. That set off alarm bells in my head.

Doing a quick body count, I got confused. Everyone was there. And eating dinner, which were apparently hamburgers. I turned to her opening my mouth to ask, when Max beat me to it.

"She was crying because you weren't here, and she'd heard, in sense of the word, people talking about capturing or killing you. Though it was faint, as though they weren't really nearby, but close enough for her to hear them." Max explained. With that, I took another look around the room. They all looked as though they'd been extremely worried, despite, A) my track record, and B) that I was able to take care of myself. But I still understood that they had been worried, if only about me.

I kneeled down and hugged Angel. "Sorry." I said. I'd meant it for all of them, but especially for Angel, because she had heard what the men had been saying. "And thank you, for picking up on that." I added after a moment's hesitation.

When I stood back up, Angel remained determinedly attached to my right arm, and sat in the chair next to mine when I sat. Yassen sat on my left, closely watching me for something. Shock maybe, but for what. Instead of dwelling on it, I decided to ignore it. Or try to ignore it, at least.

I waited until Wolf had finished making up his hamburger, and then just took his plate. I gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Wolf. I never knew you were so kind as to make my hamburger for me!" I said, nodding my head a little.

At that, Wolf exploded. Not literally, of course, but he started yelling, and his face turned a shade of red that I wouldn't have thought possible.

My distraction seemed to work, as Eagle burst out laughing, Snake tried to hold it in and look professional, and Ben just shook his head, laughing a bit. Angel, Ella, Gazzy, and Nudge were laughing as well, while Max, Iggy, and Fang smiled. Valencia quickly made up another hamburger, and handed it to Wolf, trying, like Snake, not to laugh at the big, macho, SAS man, who was freaking out over a hamburger.

The radio was still on, and I heard, just barely, a Rascal Flatts song. I grinned, and stood to turn it up.

"California to Oregon, Even New York City got one or two hillbillies, Ready to hit the road, It's a brother and a sister kind of thing, Raise up your hands if you all wanna hang, With me and my gang, We live to ride, We ride to live, Me and my gang!"

Eagle looked openly shocked, while Ben just shook his head. I couldn't tell what Yassen was thinking, while Snake and Wolf both looked mildly impressed with a touch of a disapproving look in their eyes. I supposed they thought no 'soldier' should ever be allowed to sing.

I kept grinning. "Yeah, bet you didn't know that about me, eh?" I took a minute and finished my hamburger.

"Hey, Soul Sister, Ain't that Mr. Mister on the Radio, Stereo, The way you move ain't fair, you know?" I sang, still grinning. "Somewhere back home, Jack has videos of me running around the house singing to the radio when I was little. Though, considering recent developments," At this point, I glared at Yassen, "They're probably all burned to the ground thanks to Blunt. I wouldn't be surprised if he did that."

Snake shook his head. "We were forced to help her move out. She packed up anything really memorable, despite orders. There was a box marked Memories of Alex. It's probably all in there."

"Well, it's a good thing I know where she'll be going. Or, well, I know where her parents live, which is a start." I said, nodding supposedly thoughtful. I knew that it would put her in major danger, though, if I were ever to see her.

Angel took my hand, and smiled up at me. I'd been a bit surprised when she did that. I'd been having a bit of a flashback moment. "From what I can tell, she wouldn't care about the danger you would put her in. She would rather know that you're okay."

I nodded to that. "Yeah, that's fairly true. She hates MI6 for what they're doing. She rather be with me, than, you know, having everything like this. I can't imagine it was easy to get her out of the country."

"And yet you know that you won't be allowed to take even a step in her direction." Yassen said, watching me over steepled fingers. "You'll be stopped by whatever force necessary, as per ordered from Blunt."

"Yes, because I _always_ listen to _whatever_ Blunt says. Need I remind you of the whole Damian Cray incident? Blunt didn't believe me when I was telling the truth. That was one mission, of a few in fact, that I mounted on my own." I argued back.

This time though, Wolf replied. "It said in your file that Blunt asked you to accept that mission." He stated, pulling my file over to himself. He started flipping through it.

"Well, then it's a load of bullshit. Blunt will take credit for anything, if only to make himself look better." I rebutted. "He's almost as bad as SCORPIA. They just wanted to use me, too."

"However, if you just accepted that life is unfair, then it probably wouldn't be as hard to live this life." Yassen said, cocking one eyebrow at me.

I almost shrieked at that. "Hypocrite! I remember two years ago, after you shot Herod Sayle right in freakin' front of me you told me to 'get out of this life, don't accept another mission, because 'this world' is no place for a child." I exclaimed. I really wanted to slap him, because he was giving me a half smug look. A look that told me he had wanted to see my reaction. "Man, you piss me off sometimes, you know that?"

He only shrugged in response, with the ghost of a grin on his face. 'See? There you go again, doing that whole annoying thing that you do!" I said, gesturing at him, before plopping back down in my seat. A bit childishly, I stuck out my tongue. "Well, it isn't working." I added, despite that it was obvious it was.

He seemed to ignore this, and leaned towards me. His posture screamed serious. Kind of like when the mob boss in a movie says 'Let's get down to business' to the client. "Do you know the men who attacked you?"

I almost laughed. The key word there is almost. "What gives you the first clue that I would even have a clue. Too many people want me dead in the first place. Though, if I did have a clue, I'd say it'd have to do with what I'm currently…Investigating, for use of the word." I replied, leaning back in my chair, and crossing one leg over the other and twiddling my thumbs.

"Which would be what exactly?" Ben asked, frowning. I could tell he didn't really like what he was hearing.

"Um, not that I know much, but something to do with Mr. Chu, and his corporation, who was found to be dumping toxic reactive waste in the ocean about just over a year ago. He and SCORPIA are working together, or he's now a part of SCORPIA, to help keep their board member numbers from falling off the charts, or something. I know that it does have something to do with the flock." I gestured to them, and shrugged a little. "I just remembered though. That wasn't the first time I was attacked. Yesterday, when we were leaving the clinic, the sniper in the building…" I added, sitting up and turning to Max and Fang.

Fang nodded, and Max looked thoughtful. "If the two are related incidents…" She said quietly.

"Then we've got a huge problem. Even if they aren't related…" I replied, looking at Angel, Gazzy and Nudge.

"Then we aren't safe here." Max finished. I bit my lip, and turned slowly to Yassen.

"Not that I'm asking for help, but if you were in my shoes, and had to help hide a group of bird kids, a full grown woman and her daughter, plus a SAS unit who will definitely not leave your side, and your new guardian who's a major jerk, where would you go?" I asked. I knew he had countless hidden homes throughout the world. I was just asking which one we could use.

"I have a place," he started, and I grinned. "About an hour and a half from here. Hidden in a forest. Small cabin. But big enough for all of us. Fully stocked, but there's a small town near by, just in case."

"So, more good news then, right Valencia?" I said turning to Max's mom. "Everyone would be safe there, and we could plan our next move." I stood up, and took a little stretch. Valencia nodded her agreement, and Yassen stood as well.

"Then we leave at dark, in about an hour or so." He said.

**Author's note: Again, shorter than the other chapters. But I still hoped you all enjoyed it! As well, I'm doing my school exams at the moment, hence the lag in updating. Sorry!**


	4. Chapter 4

I kicked my bag around a bit in front of me to try and get my feet comfortable. I hadn't had that much to pack, but Valencia also packed me some extra clothes in a different bag. She insisted that I needed more clothes than I had. I was currently in my borrowed PJs, sitting in the front seat of the black van that K-Unit had rented. Yassen was driving, and K-Unit was watching the roads, and Valencia driving behind to make sure they didn't lose us.

I had tried to sneak in with the flock to Valencia's van, but Yassen had caught me by the arm, and dragged me to the rented van. I then argued that I could drive Valencia's van and follow behind them, to make sure we didn't get separated.

"I'm fairly sure that Ms. Martinez can drive her own van exceptionally well, and that she does not need your assistance in following us." Was what he had replied with in answer to my point. So, now, here I was, arms crossed over my chest, trying to get moderately comfortable. We'd only really been on the road for about twenty minutes, and the dead silence in the van was starting to weird me out a bit. It also brought back memories I'd tried a long time to repress.

I shuddered quite a bit, and decided to draw my knees up to my chin. Before I got seriously comfortable, I zipped open my backpack a tiny bit and pulled out a zip lock bag. Opening it, I smiled a little. Max had handed me the baggie before we left the house, and I'd hardly gotten a chance to see what it was. Breathing in the smell, I sighed. She'd packed me some cookies for the trip.

After about a minute of me slowly eating a cookie, Eagle started to shift around a bit. As the smell of the cookies filled the entire van, the others started to look around as well. Only Yassen seemed unbothered by the smell, which I found surprisingly annoying. Still though, I stayed quiet, waiting for someone else to say something.

I heard movement from behind me, and then my seat thumped a bit. "Where the hell did you get cookies?" Eagle exclaimed, leaning forward as much as he could.

"I got them from Max. Valencia made them this morning. And trust me, they taste every bit as good as they smell." I replied. I figured I needed to do something to pass the car ride, as well as a distraction, and torturing Eagle with tantalizing cookies seemed to be a good idea.

At least, that's what I thought. I had fun with that for about two minutes, before Wolf told Eagle to shut up, and Yassen grabbed the cookies away from me. And then, much to my horror, threw them out the window.

"How could you? I was enjoying those!" I said, sitting up a bit. "I was also passing the time by bothering Eagle!"

"Yeah, and in turn, bothering us, Cub. Sorry, but it had to be done." Snake replied. He also gave Yassen a pat of thanks on the shoulder. It was interesting to see how they all interacted with each other. I'd guessed they'd stayed and trained together at Brecons Beacons. Yassen had the same synergy with K-Unit that I had with K-Unit, only, Yassen and I didn't have that synergy. Which only made me remember Blunt's backstabbing again. Which only made me frustrated. It was the same thing, over and over again. The man couldn't stick to his damn promises if there was something he could do to get himself higher.

"Your training from me starts tomorrow morning. You'll be up early, and there'll be punishment each time you complain. You won't be getting any warning of what you'll be doing each day. And don't think that because we'll be hiding that I'll lighten the load. In fact, that will just make it worse. Less people around, so, really, I could just push you harder." I'd been surprised at the sudden change of subject. Only a few people could really surprise me constantly; Yassen was one of those few.

Really, though, at the moment I didn't give a damn about whatever training he wanted to give me. As well, I was still a bit in denial about the whole adoption thing, and I didn't want to hear, or accept another word of it. And I knew that. But I was known for my stubborn streak, which I'd actually picked up from Jack.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." I deadpanned, much like I had earlier, when I had gone out for my 'jog'. Really, I'd been too tired, mentally and physically, to think up my usual sarcastic remark. Everyone has their limit, and, really, I just wanted to strangle Blunt, and then crawl into a warm cozy bed. Apparently, sleeping fourteen hours didn't cut it. It was odd, because I could usually deal with it, but it seemed, in the past ten minutes or so, I had become more and more tired. It wasn't normal, and whenever something wasn't normal…

I shook my head again as my eyes gently slid close for the third or fourth time. I grabbed my water bottle, yanked it open, and poured the ice water over my head in an attempt to get more alert. Crude, but very effective.

Something wasn't right. Looking around, I saw that Yassen had also noticed this, and opened all the windows. I glanced back and saw that Valencia was still following us, unaware to our own situation. I personally hoped to keep it that way. I didn't want any car crashes anything. A) That'd be a huge disadvantage, and B) It'd probably bring police.

I stuck my head out my own window, and took a few huge breaths. And then I started shaking. Cold water + cold whipping wind equaled one freezing teenager. But it helped clear my head, and I'd rather be freezing than falling asleep drugged.

I half turned to Yassen, but kept the wind in my face. I took another really deep breath. "Tampered with?" I asked, meaning the car and the air filters. Though when whoever had gotten the chance to sabotage the rented vehicle, I don't know. Well, rather, it was mainly obvious, I suppose. They knew the general area that I was in. If they put two and two together, they would've figured I was at the Martinez residence, and it was obvious which car would belong to the ex-assassin, teen spy, and SAS unit.

He just nodded in response, and I rolled my eyes. Turning in my seat again, I saw that K-Unit were mostly completely out, except for Ben, who seemed to be doing the same thing I had been doing; drifting on the fringe of consciousness. Checking the clock, I realized it had been more than ten minutes that I'd been out of it. More like thirty, maybe forty. We were closer to our destination.

I fiddled with my seatbelt and took it off, just in case. "Remotely? What are we going to do if they're following, or tracking us?" I asked again. Surely it was remotely controlled, or else it would've started as soon as we started the van. And there was no one as far as I could see following us behind Valencia. Though suddenly, I wasn't so sure.

"Yes, remotely. And obviously, I'm not going to drive straight there now. At the next available stop, we're all getting in the other van." He replied shortly. I suppose there wasn't much else to say, though. I nodded for a second at that, and looked around. I was still shivering, but I thought it would be a good idea to stick my head out the window again, while we were driving at about 120 miles per hour. But this time I looked up, trying to see if I could see anything like a helicopter silhouetted against the night sky. It was surprisingly clear, with a huge, bright moon, which only made it easier to see that there was nothing there.

I shifted back into my seat, and took a second to rub my arms with my hands. It didn't help that my hair was soaked, along with my clothes. If I wasn't going to get dry soon, then I wouldn't get warmer anytime soon. It could only lead to a cold, then pneumonia. Really, sometimes I have the greatest ideas, I swear.

Getting another great idea, I climbed into the back part of the van, tripping a couple times, and nearly falling a couple more. But my idea mostly worked. I gave Ben a big hug with my wet, shivering form, which had more or less the same effect on him as pouring water over my head had for me.

"Ugh, what are you doing, Alex?" He groaned, pushing me away, and half sitting up. There weren't proper seats in the back of the van, so K-unit had technically fallen asleep on the floor. I stood back up, bent over, and shuffled back towards my seat. Though instead, I pulled down a little tuck-away chair from the back of my front seat, and sat down on it.

"Getting you up, of course. Stuff is going on. Personally, I think we should somehow warn the others." I said, trying to sound semi-cheerful. It didn't really work though, because I was still shivering, and I'd stuttered on a few of the words.

I felt the van lurch a bit, and list to the side, and then stop. Yassen turned a bit, looking at me and Ben. Out of the corner of my eye, and out the back window, I saw the other vehicle come to a stop a few feet behind us, filling our van with the glare of headlights.

In a moment of silent communication, I opened the side door, just as Max opened her door. I hopped out, and Ben hopped out behind me. He took a second to grab something from the van, and tossed it to me. Unraveling it, I saw it was a sweater. Huge, and though I would be practically swimming in it, I put it on anyways. Besides, there was a perfectly valid reason.

"What's goi-" Max started, but I abruptly cut her off, waiting until we were standing extremely close to each other. I didn't want to be loud. We were in the middle of nowhere, and yet, I still felt the need to be extremely quiet.

"Our van was sabotaged. Sleeping gas in the air vents. Remotely controlled. We're probably being tracked, as well, so at the next stop, we're abandoning our van, and we're all going to have to pile in yours. There's not much choice, either." I explained rapidly. She nodded at everything, taking it in, and I wouldn't doubt that she was memorizing it as well.

"When we do the switch, I'll get Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and myself to fly above. It'll make some room in the van, Angel can keep contact with us through her mind, and we'll have a bird's eye view of everything." She replied. I couldn't help but agree. It was a good plan.

"Kay, then I'll see you at the next stop. If anything happens to our van, then keep driving. Don't stop. These are people you don't want to mess with." I said, before giving her a small smile, and heading back to my own van. I waited a second, hearing Valencia's van door slam shut, and then climbed back into the back, with Ben, again, right behind me.

I sat back on the pull down seat, and Yassen pulled back on to the road. "When we get to the next stop, then we'll move into the other van. However, at that time, Max, Fang, Iggy and Nudge will start patrolling the skies, which will help us for fore-warning wise, and it'll make a little more space in the van." I explained. Getting no replies, I guess they saw it was a good plan. Or at least the best plan we could manage under such pressure.

I was still a little fatigued from the sleeping gas, but I knew I couldn't fall asleep even if I wanted to. I squirmed in my seat a little, trying to free my hands from the long sleeved trap of the sweater. Finally, my hands poked out, and I was able to clasp my hands in my lap, if only to have something to hold on to.

Ben seemed to be lightly sleeping against the wall of the van, but glancing over my shoulder, Yassen seemed completely unaffected. I was curious at that. I mean, when I'd first snapped out of it, he seemed a bit affected, but holding on. And now, while Fox was drifting off, the others still hadn't woken, though Eagle was starting to stir, and I was tired out from it, he seemed absolutely fine. As though nothing happened.

I'd been staring at him unconsciously for about five minutes when he finally glanced back. "What is it, Alex?" He asked, looking back to the road. I reached into the front, and rummaged my iPod Touch out of my bag. Yet another gadget from Smithers, but it played music as well. The gadget half of it was controlled through the few apps on the device, but besides that, it was completely normal.

Settling back in the fold out seat, I shook my head. "Nothing." I'd been thinking of actually explaining what I was thinking, but decided against it. Besides, he'd probably already guessed what I was thinking, so there wasn't really any point, in my mind.

Keeping it on a low volume, I used the speaker of my iPod to play music. Choosing a song I thought was fairly appropriate to my life in some aspects, I hummed along with the lyrics. At one point, I paused, completely freezing for a minute, waiting. And then I sneezed.

My sneeze fully woke up Eagle, and he looked over at me a question forming in his mouth. I sneezed again, shaking my head.

"Ah that's just bloody wonderful." I muttered, "And I'm only explaining it once, so you can wait until those two get up." I added, gesturing to Wolf and Snake, who were still, surprisingly, still completely out. But I supposed whatever gas it had been would generally affect everyone differently.

Of course, eagle was still able to find something to say; despite the fact that I had thought he would just stay quiet. "What song is that? It seems kind of dark. Not like you." He asked, reaching his hand out for the iPod. Cherishing the gadget, which Smithers had actually given me for my last birthday, I selfishly didn't let him see it, which made Eagle pout. Then again, we were both just childish like that.

"Though considering what you said, Eagle, the lyrics are actually quite ironic, considering Alex's life." Yassen said from up front. I was surprised he even got why I liked the song. I found myself grinning a bit as Eagle tried to follow the lyrics.

Turning up the volume, I said, "The song is called Brick by Boring Brick, and it's by Paramore." I was tapping out the beat on my knee, and Eagle nodded. "The very basic theme of the song is leaving childhood behind. Very good song, in my opinion." I added, starting to quietly sing along with the second verse.

A few minutes passed in silence; while I sung quietly, Eagle moved up to the front seat to get an update on what had happened from Yassen, seeing as I refused to. I just didn't want to have to explain over and over. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to look at them.

"Get the others up, there's a gas station coming up." Yassen said shortly, already turned back to the road.

I nodded and knelt by Ben's side, gently shaking him. When that didn't work, I tried poking him. That got him stirring a bit, but not up.

"C'mon Ben, just get up." I said, shaking him some more. It wasn't as gentle this time though, and it did get him up. It more startled him, so that he already had his gun out before he realized it was just me. I just smiled. "And it'll be your pleasure to wake up Wolf and Snake."

There had only been one time when I'd woken up Wolf, and it wasn't something I was going to have a repeat of. In all truth, it had scared the living shit out of me. It had been at Brecons Beacons, when I was training for another few weeks. From that day forward, I refused ever to wake up Wolf.

Of course, Ben knew what had happened that day, which is why he was grinning at me as he got Wolf and Snake up. They both groggily sat up, and Ben quickly explained that we had to switch cars.

Both men became more alert as Fox quickly explained what was going on. I glanced at the front window, before kneeling down in front of the sliding door. I held onto the handle, and made sure the door was unlocked.

'_Ready?'_ I mentally asked Angel, taking a quick second to glance back at Valencia's headlights.

'_Yes, we are.'_ Came the reply. I wasn't actually expecting a reply, so it was a bit of a shock. I nodded after a second, and then remembered that she couldn't see me.

I adjusted myself just a bit as Yassen slowed down. We were at the gas station, but he kept going until both vehicles were out from under the bright lights. I had the door open before he fully stopped, and I held it open for the others. Max opened the door on Valencia's van, and each of the flock minus Angel took off from the van. K-unit hopped into the other van once the flock had vacated it.

Yassen got Ella to move to the back seats, and he took the front passenger seat. I'd been about to climb in, when I paused. I looked up, and in the moonlight, I could see the flock circling high above us. I had one foot in the van, and off of a gut instinct, I looked behind me. Something flashed across my eye. I took my foot off the rim of van, and swung the sliding door shut as I spun around and ducked. Barely a second later I heard the glass above me crack and Ella's semi-muffled screaming. I couldn't tell whether she had been hit or if she was scared. I didn't have time to check, either.

I jumped up and started running towards the gas station, and I hit the back of the van to tell them to go. Yassen got my message, obviously, and translated for Valencia. Behind me, I heard the tires squeal.

I kept low while running. _'Will they care about blowing up the station?'_ I thought. I hear a ping of a bullet hitting metal. _'Guess not.'_ I added. I heard another ping, and saw a spark in my peripheral vision this time.

'_Get to the other side of the station,'_ I hear Angel's voice in my head. _'Fang and Max will pick you up.' _

Even as she told me I could see them starting to hover over the pavement. I poured on the speed, and started sprinting. I heard a few pings echo around me, and out of instinct, I ducked, though it was doubtful to help.

Nearing Max and Fang, I reached out, and jumped. They swooped forward, and each grabbed a hand, rising fast into the night sky. I saw the red laser dot appear on one of Fang's wings. Figuring I didn't have time to explain, I curled up like I was doing a crunch, and then dropped my weight. It made both of them drop their height a bit. Enough for the shooter to miss, which had been my intention.

Fang had opened his mouth to ask about why I just did that, but they both heard the bullet whiz by, which answered his question. They kept flying up, until we were all out of range. I could just barely make out the van, and that was from the headlights and back lights. I looked down to the station, and tried to focus on the little people down ther. They looked like ants. No, they were smaller than ants. And they seemed to be grouping, from what I could see. A few seconds passed, then two of the miniscule people walked away, while the rest stayed. I felt something was wrong. I felt I should go back down there.

And then it was too late. As Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy joined us in the air, I saw a small inferno. It was right next to the station, and then there was an explosion. They were blowing up the station. They didn't want witnesses. They were blowing up the station because I got away. But that was the story of my life, right?

I went limp; a dead weight. More innocent blood on my hands. I almost wished I was down there dead.

'_It wouldn't of made a difference,'_ a small voice interupted my thoughts, _'They still would've destroyed the evidence.'_

'_Angel, I know.' _I thought back, _'But I don't need you to be peeping in on my thoughts when they're that dark.'_

'_Yassen told me to.' _I heard back, but I didn't hear anything else after that. I clenched my fists, and snapped myself out of it.

While I'd been wallowing in self-pity, we had started to move. I looked up at Max and Fang. Max gave me a little smile, while Fang kept looking striaght ahead.

"We're gonna pass you to Iggy, then us three will switch off on who's carrying you. Angel said that we'll have to wait a bit before we can bring you down to the van, just in case." Max said. I nodded, and looked around for Iggy. He was behind us, slowly coming towards me. Once he was holding on to me, bride style, Fang and Max let go.

I decided to relax a bit, and so I started to star gaze. I searched out the few constellations I knew, tracing the imaginary lines between Orion, Cassiopeia, and the Big Dipper. I stretched a bit to see the constellations behind us.

"What exactly are you doing?" Iggy asked when I shifted a bit more to try and spot a few other constellations.

"Oh, um, trying to see how many constellations I remember. I don't think I've ever seen so many stars at once. It really, well, pretty, I suppose. And kind of calming. It's just so peaceful up here." I replied.

"Well, at least you can see the stars." He snapped back.

I shrugged a bit. "Then I'll just figure out a way for you to know what the constellations look like."

Iggy was going to reply, when Max flew up beside us. "Angel said Yassen wants you back in the van. Now. So I'll bring you back down. And we'll have to be fast." It had only really been about forty minutes since we left the gas station, but were had been going pretty fast. The Flock's stamina surprised me. I doubted even K-unit would've been able to keep up that pace running.

I nodded. We waited a couple more minutes before Iggy tossed me to Max. She carried me bride style as well, and when we were beside the van, Yassen braked and Wolf opened the door. At the same time, Max stopped and I jumped from her arms. She took off into the night sky again, and I clambered into the van.

I saw Snake opening his mouth, and I shook my head. "I'm fine. I didn't get hit, or anything." I curled up on my seat, and let my head drop to my knees, which I had pulled up to my chest. I zoned out, and eventually drifted off to sleep, thinking about my new friends, and my new 'family'.

**Author's Note:**

**Hey, everyone! Sorry for the long wait! My computer broke again, for about the fifth time this year. I didn't lose anything, but it took away a lot of access time to a computer. School's started too, but I can type at school, seeing as I have two of my three classes in a computer lab. **

**I found this chapter to be a bit crappy. I meant for it to be a bit more action-y, but I hit a writer's block, and it didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. But, I still hoped you enjoyed it, and sorry (again) for the long wait. Also, I'd like to give a giant virtual cookie to PrideIsArrogance for being the first reviewer ever on this fan fiction. And I thank you all who have favourited and alerted as well!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Yes, I know. I went AWOL for a little while there. Terribly sorry about that. Real life caught up with me for a bit with college applications, school, family stuff, and a part-time job, a trip to France and Spain, and general writer's block. But I had yesterday off work so I sat my butt down and I was like, "I'm going to write, gosh darnit (Not directly quoted. Changed for more innocent readers out there. Imply your own curse words if you wish)!" And so I did. And here I am, posting a new chapter for all you lovely people out there, after having problems logging in. But it's all good now!

I woke up slowly, unwilling to give up the warmth and escape offered by the dream I'd been having. I rolled over and pulled the sheets over my head.

At some point during the night, we reached a moderate sized cottage-like home. I made it from the van to the first bed I found in a half asleep stupor. It had been a nice queen sized bed, with fancy silk sheets. I'd been really comfortable. Yassen had promptly kicked me out of what was apparently his room. He directed me to the 'guest room', where I collapsed on the smaller, less comfortable bed. I remember mumbling about him being an ass, or something, before drifting back to sleep.

I heard the door open. I stayed still and continued 'sleeping'. I heard the closet open, and some stuff being moved.

"Get up," Yassen said. "I know you're awake. You should be able to act better than that."

I groaned my response, and rolled over into a ball. I wasn't really in the mood for him to be lecturing me already. I felt a tug and then the warm blanket that was covering had disappeared. I stayed curled up, but I frowned. I tried wrapping myself in the sheet underneath my body that was covering the mattress. Another tug and I was off the bed this time.

"Alex, get up. Training starts now. Get changed." He ordered. I sat up and glared at him. I looked around the small room, and found an analog clock that worked in twenty-four hours. It was quarter to five. In the morning.

"Asshole." I muttered. I stood up, and he left the room. Rubbing my eyes and stumbling around still dead tired, I managed to find a pair of track pants and a tee-shirt. I left the room, and looked around the house. It was much larger than I had though it to be the night before. From the front, it looked moderately sized, while it actually went quite a bit back. I also figured there was a basement, as from the outside I had seen that there was a concrete foundation.

I reached the kitchen, where Yassen and Valencia were sitting at a dining table. Valencia was drinking a cup of coffee. I looked around to where she got it, and found a half-full pot. I started walking towards it, but Yassen grabbed my arm.

"You don't get coffee." He said, "We're going on a run, and you don't want to have to go. We won't be stopping."

I frowned. He was right. A commonly well-known fact was that caffeine would make you have to pee. A lot. Running would only help that along. I looked back at the coffee.

"How long?" I asked.

"Long enough." He replied. He let go of my arm, and I sighed. I sat next to Valencia, watching her drink her coffee enviously for a couple minutes. Yassen stood up, and I sighed again, standing up with him.

I headed towards the back door, seeing my running shoes already there. I pulled them on, glaring at Yassen. He was too calm, and had probably been ready before I even got up. I tied my shoes, and straightened up. I stretched my arms out above me, cracking my knuckles and shoulders in the process.

I pulled the elastic off my wrist and tied up my hair, all the while holding my gaze with Yassen. I pulled on the cord of my headphones on the iPod from Smithers, and put the one of the ear buds in. I gave a little smile to Yassen, and gestured to him to lead the way. I scrolled through the playlists, and threw on songs from Rent. I was in a slightly nostalgic mood. I jogged to catch up with Yassen while La Vie Boheme blasted in my left ear. As such, I stayed on his left, so that I could hear him if he said anything.

He led, and I followed. His run led into the forest surrounding the cabin. It was slowly downhill for a bit, before becoming a fairly steep incline. The path eventually became smaller, until I had to follow behind him.

I hated to admit it to myself even, but it was getting a bit hard to keep up with Yassen. We were still climbing upwards, and the path had become more rugged the farther we went. We had been running for about forty minutes, and I was getting quite curious as to where he was leading me. I was glad to be behind him so that though he could most likely hear me breathing harder, he couldn't see me on the few times I nearly tripped on an above ground root or rock, or see the glares I would send his way every few minutes.

Yassen slowed to a brisk walk, and I said a silent thanks. We weren't back at the house; I knew that. The ground was still slightly sloped upward, but seemed to be flattening out. He stopped, and I nearly bumped into him.

I looked out from behind him to see what he was staring at. There was a clearing on the top of this hill. Grass, half dead, covered the ground. The clearing was surrounded by trees, and isolated. It would be a great sparring spot, which is what I figured Yassen had thought when he first saw it.

There was one problem though. There were five teens sitting in a circle. I watched as they passed around a makeshift bong, completely carefree and getting high. I was a little jealous. Of the carefree part, not the getting high. I glanced up at Yassen, and raised an eyebrow in question.

'_Stay.'_ He mouthed the order before striding forward, startling the kids.

"What are you doing here? This is private property! Leave now, or I'll call the police." He said, standing over them. They slowly stood up, three of them backing up slowly, looking scared. The other two stood there ground, one of them smirking.

I knew personally that the police threat was probably an empty threat. I was fairly sure he didn't want to bring police out here, when we were in hiding.

"And what are you gonna do, old man?" The one smirking asked. I physically winced. Even if I was him, I wouldn't have said such a thing. I watched as Yassen reached behind to grab his gun, and shook my head. I wasn't going to let him pull a gun on a couple of kids.

I stood up quickly. "Uncle!" I called out. "Where'd you go?" I pushed through the brush into the clearing. I smiled at him, noticing he let go of his gun.

I turned to the kids, still smiling. "Hi. You know this is private property, right? Like, you shouldn't be here." I seriously loved acting. It was so fun to throw people off.

They both looked a little shocked at the appearance of another person. I stood and smiled. I put my hands on my hips, and cocked my hips to the right after a few seconds of what seemed to be a staring contest.

"So, you should leave. Like, now." I said, probably a little coldly. The guys nodded, and joined up with their friends. I hadn't actually expected them to leave, but I didn't really mind.

We stood in silence for a little bit. I was kind of nervous. I'd technically just disobeyed a direct order from my 'superior', in MI6 terms. Not that I hadn't done it before, but this seemed kind of different. I mean, it was Yassen. I didn't know how he would react to my interfering.

"Follow me." He said finally. He headed back towards the brush, which threw me off for a bit. He started running again, and I mentally groaned. I still hadn't had breakfast, or even anything to drink. I was tired, and I didn't really want to run some more.

We headed back down the hill, in a straighter path than before. It only took a few minutes to get back to the cottage, but now we were in front of it. We'd gone in a complete circle. I was astounded that I hadn't realized it.

He slowed down and walked to the front door, stepping aside to make me go in first. I ducked under his arm, and smiled at the smell of bacon and eggs. It was practically mouth-watering. I didn't bother taking off my shoes and headed straight to the back of the cottage, where the dining room was.

The food was set up in a buffet style, with scrambled eggs in a dish, and bacon in another. There was OJ in a jug, and some fresh fruit in bowls. I grabbed a paper plate from a pile and went to start loading it up when Yassen pushed me away from the table. I looked up and he shook his head.

"You won't be able to eat until I say you can eat. You need to be taught to listen to my commands, which you did not do at the meadow. Therefore, no breakfast. Disobey again and you'll lose your lunch. Arguing with me or complaining about my orders isn't allowed." He explained. I swore he was trying not to grin.

I opened my mouth to say something about his _orders_, and just where he could shove them, and then decided against it. I was hungry. I didn't want to lose lunch privileges. It was harder than I thought it would be though, keeping my yap shut. Talking back, and being a smart-ass was just the way I was, even before I got tied in with MI6.

I took a few deep breaths in, through my mouth to avoid the smells as much as possible, and made my expression as neutral as possible. "Fine." I replied evenly. "Then I shall be in my room trying not to scream at you with every curse word I know. I wouldn't want to teach those words to those not allowed to know them."

I turned on my heel, mentally sighed, and stalked to my room as quietly as possible. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. I took a few more deep breaths, trying to stay calm. He knew I had a temper at times, and I knew he was trying to train me to keep it in check. I supposed he was also trying to break me down, and make me a little more obedient, at least towards him. By taking away food, and running me the way he was, it would eventually get too much, and I would either snap, or faint, or both. More for my own sake, I would cooperate. I didn't want to be trained, because I didn't want to do this anymore. But I knew I didn't really have a choice anymore either. I was certainly in too deep, and despite my wanting to stop, I couldn't physically or mentally convince my self to stop.

I pushed off of the door, and sat on my bed. Well, it wasn't technically my bed, but I had slept in it, so I kind of considered it my bed. For the time being, at least.

I could hear the almost deathly silence that reigned outside of my door. I pulled my backpack up onto my bed, and pulled out my case file. I shouldn't have been carrying it with me; it should have been destroyed long ago. I don't really know why I still had it, as I did have everything memorized.

I spread the papers out that pertained to Mr. Chu. I kept work locations separate, along with the buildings he owned. I pushed his surprisingly short rap sheet to the side. It only really contained a few tickets and a couple charges for dumping. He really knew how to keep the dark side of his work underground and hidden.

I really didn't know much about the dark side of Mr. Chu's businesses. I did know that he was working with SCORPIA. He wasn't above kidnapping to get to someone, and he had a secret base somewhere in the ocean, which I knew because it had been included with the Flock's files. The exact location had, of course, been blacked out by Blunt.

It had been about a half an hour before I heard a quiet knock at my door. I replied with a loud 'come in', but didn't look up to see who it was. I was staring intently at the papers spread in front of me, trying to connect some dots.

I looked up when Valencia pushed my papers aside though, and sat on my bed. I nearly cried with relief when I saw the gift of a sandwich in her hands. While reading over papers, I'd been doing my best to ignore the pain of hunger emanating from my stomach.

"Where's Yassen?" I asked, before even thinking about taking the sandwich.

"Outside, sparing with Wolf." I nodded my understanding, and took the sandwich proffered to me.

I ate in silence, while Valencia skimmed the papers, occasionally lifting one to actually read it. When I finished half the sandwich, I pulled down on the paper she had been holding.

"I shouldn't be letting you read these files, technically. I could probably get killed over it, or something. Though I doubt Blunt would give up his prized weapon." I said nonchalantly. I didn't actually make her stop though. When most stuff is censored, there really isn't many 'state secrets' to keep anyways.

She opened the one file folder that I hadn't looked at. I already knew what it said; it was my file. The passport and ripped forms were in the very beginning. I picked up the passport when Valencia put it down.

I flipped open the little booklet. My new address was in downtown London. I knew the apartment building. It looked fancier every time I biked by, and it was ridiculously expensive. I wondered if Yassen or MI6 was footing the bill. I recognized the picture as one of my recent school pictures, modified to look like the standard passport photo. Most of the information was the same, some of it just a tad different.

The biggest difference was my name. _Alexis Gregorovich_, it read in bold print. I didn't like it. I was Alexis _Rider_, not Gregorovich. I didn't care if Yassen had now technically adopted me. I wanted my last name back. It carried much sentimental value to me.

I put the passport back on my bed, and finished my sandwich while Valencia flipped through my file. I watched as her expression slowly grew more shocked as she read, and saw photos of the destruction I was constantly leaving behind me. She was seeing through the window into what had become my almost daily life, all the way from the beginning with Sayle to the beginnings of the report for this mission that I was doing for CIA. I could tell she was just skimming, but even skimming would get her enough information on me.

I zoned out in the quiet of my room, with the plate balanced on my knee, until there was another knock at my door. A very soft knock.

"Come in." I said, sure that whoever it was would hear me. Angel opened the door, with Yassen right behind her. I kept my eyes on Yassen, but hugged Angel when she climbed onto the bed and into my arms.

"Were you seeing that Angel?" Valencia asked, closing my file. "I'm sorry hunny. I didn't mean for you to see that."

Yassen stayed standing, eyes locked with mine. "You shouldn't have been reading that anyways, Valencia." He said, coldly. I restrained myself from shivering. He was pissed I would've let her read it, and I could tell.

I rubbed Angel's back while she buried her head in my shoulder. "So we're living downtown? Like, two blocks or something from 'work'?" I asked, trying to give the conversation a little bit of a different direction.

I saw his gaze flick to the passport before he continued staring me down. "Yes. And you won't be attending Brookland Prep anymore. Homeschooling. Training. Work. For me it'll just be work, constantly. In a way, I'm also your handler."

"And why exactly does anyone think I need a handler? I'm not an animal. Sure, Blunt may see me as a weapon, but I certainly don't need a handler." I said, scoffing a bit.

"Be that as it may, those are the orders. Both yours and mine. While you are under my care and jurisdiction, as well, I have a higher rank over you. The three people you absolutely must take and obey orders from are Blunt, Mrs. Jones, and I. Are we clear?" He had gotten closer while on his little rant of sorts.

I continued rubbing Angel's back, bit my tongue, and nodded. "Fine. Whatever." I replied, looking away, and over to Valencia. She seemed to be holding herself back; Angry that he would talk to me like that. I knew it would be normal, but hopefully she would never have to learn that would normal.

Seeming satisfied with my answer, Yassen backed off a bit. He leaned against the wall, and it was almost deathly quiet in my room. Yassen didn't stop Valencia when she went back to reading my file. I patted Angel on the back.

"What are the others doing?" I asked her. I smiled at her a bit when she leaned back to see my face.

"Flying around outside. I said I needed a drink." She replied, also telling me her excuse, as I had been silently wondering.

I grinned. "Wanna go join them again? Like how we were all having fun last night? Well, two nights ago, now, I suppose." I asked, waggling my eyebrows a bit.

She nodded, and bounced off the bed to race ahead, as I had silently asked her to. Valencia stood to follow, still holding my file.

"I don't mind if you keep reading it." I said before Yassen could stop her. It was my file, so my rules. I threw a quick glare at him, challenging him to say no. I waved Valencia to go through my door first, and followed her out, with Yassen behind me.

Since I still had my shoes on, I half ran to back door, following the sounds of the bird-kids having fun. I slammed open the screen door, and held up my arms once I was off the back deck. Max and Fang must've been informed by Angel, because they swooped down right away, and scooped me up.

We were up in the sky for maybe an hour, just fooling around. I caught glances of K-unit plus Yassen watching us all, while Valencia had seated herself on a lawn chair with my file spread open for her to read.

While I held on to Max's hands, dangling in the air, I saw Gazzy fly back towards us. He looked worried, and, well, scared.

"There's a car coming down the road." He said. He was panting a bit, and I saw the others coming in closer to see what was going on.

I looked up at Max. "We should land. I could scope from the ground with Yassen, and you and Fang from the air. No one could've found us that easily." I said. Max nodded in agreement, but told Angel to listen out. I didn't argue it; it was a good idea.

Max dropped down with the rest of the flock rather fast, but I braced myself for when she dropped me from a few feet up. I landed fine and felt the air push down as her and Fang went back up. I let Valencia usher the remaining bird-kids into the house, and I took off into the woods towards the road.

Though he was just as silent as I was, I knew Yassen was following me. I slowed as I reached the road, and when I felt him beside me, I decided to quickly explain.

"Gazzy saw a car coming down the road. Max and Fang are scoping from above." I whispered, taking in a silent breath. I could hear the car, approaching down the road slowly. I didn't want to think of the fact that that meant who ever were driving was watching.

Yassen pulled me back into the bush as the car got closer, and we were able to see who was in the vehicle. Sitting in the front passenger seat was the snot-nosed pot-smoking teen from this very morning. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

"Back to the cabin." Yassen whispered in my ear before running off. The kid obviously brought his dad to clear up what had happened this morning. I rolled my eyes before making off after Yassen.

He reached the house before I did, and I reached the house as the car pulled into the driveway. I ran around back and entered quietly.

"It's just us in this house. We're taking a vacation. I'm your uncle and guardian. You lost your parents a year ago. Hence, vacation to try and get you a little better." Yassen said, quickly briefing me. I figured K-Unit and Valencia, Ella, and the Flock were hiding somewhere. Whatever worked, right?

I nodded and grabbed a book off the bookshelf in the living room before diving to sit on the couch. The couch was in view of the front door, so I only pretended to read _The Catcher In The Rye _while Yassen answered the door when the man rang the door bell.

"Good afternoon. I wasn't expecting visitors." Yassen said calmly.

The man nodded, and I barely saw his son standing behind him. "Good afternoon to you to. I am Officer Collier with the local police. Might I come in? There are some things I'd like to discuss."

Yassen stood aside and let him in, and I buried my nose in my book as the man, the officer, was looking around. I peeked up quickly, to see the boy standing by the door.

"What is the problem, officer?" Yassen asked politely, while subtly moving more towards me, to block me from the officer. Though I wasn't really sure why.

"Well, you see sir, this property hasn't been used in a while, and no one knows the owner. At the top of the road leading here is my house, and I never saw anyone come down here in the past few days. So it's a little curious, as you should've gone by a few times, even just to do groceries." The officer pointed to the empty pantry shelves. "And it's evident that there is no or little food to speak of."

I bit my lip. We were planning on doing groceries soon, we just had to settle. We all only arrived last night, in the dead of night, but how would the officer know that? I stared at the back of Yassen's head, and remembered the alibi.

I heard Yassen sigh, and I looked back at the pages of the book. I heard him and the officer walk over to the table, and each take a seat.

"You see, Alex over there is my niece. I'm her guardian because her parents died a little over a year ago." Yassen explained quietly. "Since then, she's gone into a depression. The doctors I saw recommended I take her out of school for a while and bring her somewhere a little more isolated so that she can have some time to get better. We had tried to put her on anti-depressants, but she wouldn't take them, and I won't force her. I inherited this cottage from my parents; Alex's grandparents and I thought it would be a good place for her to rest. We arrived late last night, and we had some food in a cooler with us. If you want, I can show you the deed to this cottage." He finished.

The only truth was that we arrived late last night, and we had a cooler. I didn't know about any deed, but I did figure he had one just to be safe. I reread the same sentence about ten times, not focusing on the book, but on the kid standing nervously by the door, and on the conversation between 'my uncle' and the officer.

"Yes, I would like to see the deed, please. Since I'm already here, and just to make sure things check out." The officer replied, nodding a bit. "My son said he ran into you and your niece this morning?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Yes. We were taking a morning walk; something I do everyday. I was thinking maybe Alex would like to participate." Yassen replied. "I knew there was a small meadow around here, which is where we ran into your son and his friends. I was highly upset because this is private property, and they were smoking marijuana on my property. I would prefer that Alex, in her state, don't get exposed to such activities." He was rummaging through some files in a cabinet, and he pulled out a small file.

The officer turned around and frowned at his son. "Well, I hadn't been told that part." He replied as he accepted the file from Yassen. He flipped through it, and stopped at what I supposed was the deed.

"Hmm…." Yassen stood beside the officer as he looked over everything. "Well, everything seems to be in order. I'm sorry for bothering you. You know, if you need anything, I'm just at the top of the road." The officer said, handing back over the folder. He smiled at me as he and Yassen walked by me towards the door. I gave a meek smile back, acting my part well.

"Well, it's no problem, sir. I know you are just doing your job, right?" Yassen replied rhetorically. "You have a good day officer." He said, and the officer nodded.

I put down the book as the door closed, and listened to the officer and son walking away from the door.. "Well, um, that went unusually well." I said as I heard car doors slam.

Yassen nodded, and the engine outside started. "We should go get them." He said emotionlessly.

By them, I took that he meant the flock. I nodded to that. "Where are they hiding?" I asked, standing and replacing the book on the shelf.

"The bomb bunker." Was the nonchalant reply from Yassen.

"You have a bomb bunker?" I asked, a little shocked.

I turned to see him nodding. "Always. As a last resort in every house I've ever owned. And about half of them have come into use in my life. Hiding, sieges, being bombed. The usual."

"Okay, sure. But where is the entrance to the bunker?" I asked, trying to get over the fact that Yassen had been in bombings. It seemed more and more like Yassen was more of a trouble magnet than me.

"A little cliché, but with the layout of the land and this house, there weren't many other choices." Yassen explained as he lifted back the carpet on the floor. I helped him lift the metal door, and I helped out Angel, Ella, and Valencia when it was their turn to get out.

The flock seemed visibly shaken, and was fairly quiet. I turned to Angel, because I knew she already knew what I was thinking. "Small spaces hold bad memories for us." She explained briefly.

I nodded, mostly getting the gist of it. I patted her head, and smiled. "Well, it's okay. You don't need to worry. It'll be okay." I said, trying to come up with comforting things to say. Looking around, I saw Valencia rubbing Max's shoulder. Fang was leaning against the wall, and Iggy was standing beside him. Nudge gave me a small smile when I caught her eye, and Gazzy seemed to be trying to stare a hole through the floor.

K-unit were standing with Yassen, watching the bird kids with a mixture of suspicion and awe. They didn't seem too affected by the small space, and they hadn't needed help out. I had been amazed that everyone actually fit in there, though I hadn't actually seen the size of it. All I had seen was a hole in the ground, and everyone coming out one by one like clowns out of a mini car.

I checked the clock on the wall for the time, and smirked a little. "So, um, I say we make lunch now. And then get out of this house and find the nearest body of water. I'm up for swimming, and I think we're already getting a bit of cabin fever, even though we haven't been here a full day yet." I said, stretching my arms above my head. "Do you have a picnic basket, Yassen?" I asked, highly doubtful that he did.

I wasn't surprised when he shook his head. "Sheesh, you have a bomb bunker, but not one lousy picnic basket." I muttered, getting a smile out of Gazzy, and a little giggle out of Angel. They all probably knew my plan was to distract them, but it was working a bit. They were letting themselves be distracted.

I turned to K-Unit and Yassen and frowned a bit. "You may come, if you so wish, otherwise, I think I can handle it." With them wanting to protect me, and Yassen wanting to, ugh, train me, I was getting a little annoyed. This was my warning to them. It pretty much translated to, 'Let me have some teen time to be at least a little bit normal'.

"There is a small beach on the lake about a mile walk from here, down the road. I have it under my property, so no one should be there. But I do advise you to approach by yourself first, just to make sure." Yassen said, turning to the book shelf. I vaguely saw the seemingly Russian title before he tucked his book of choice under his arm. I nodded in response, and he sat down on the couch before propping open his book.

Wolf grabbed me by the arm, and stared, almost glared, into my eyes. If I hadn't had my past experience in dealing with him, I might've been intimidated. "Don't do anything rash or stupid." He said before also turning away, but towards the kitchen. Snake and Eagle followed, but Fox nodded towards me.

"I reiterate that statement." He said, but with a little smile. At least Ben was a little more trusting of my abilities, it seemed.

Sighing, I turned towards Valencia. "You are more than fully welcome to come with us; I assure you the atmosphere here will probably be boring after we leave." She nodded in response, and I followed her off to the kitchen.

Angel and Max followed behind me, and we watched as Valencia took the already made sandwiches away from K-Unit. "You're grown men; you are fully capable of making your own food. We're going on a picnic, and these are growing children. I'll need these to feed them." She said forcefully. There were about twenty sandwiches in all, and some juice boxes, and cookies.

Eagle pouted and complained, but in the end, it turned out that an army unit was not a force against a determined mother. "What are we supposed to eat?" Eagle said. To that, Valencia shrugged.

"We could go and do groceries while they are at the beach." Yassen said from right behind me. I nearly reacted by turning around and punching him. I hadn't heard him at all, and when he spoke I swore I jumped a bit from the surprise.

Eagle and Wolf nodded a bit, but I had a bit of an idea. I pushed past Yassen and ran to my room, rummaging around before I found the little plastic card.

I ran back, and held it up in victory. "This card is a completely secure credit card courtesy of MI6. Please, for me, use as much money as you can. It has no limit, and the money comes from MI6, and by association, Blunt himself." I handed it to Yassen, trying to smile a little innocently, and probably failing miserably. "However, I will need it back when you're done."

With that, Max, Angel and I ran off to get changed into whatever we could swim in. I, personally, had a short sleeved and shorts-like wetsuit, under which I just wore my bra and undies since I didn't have a proper swim suit.

Max and Angel exited their room shortly after I did, and we set off, all walking for a change. Max and I carried the cooler between us quite easily as our makeshift picnic basket.

The beach itself wasn't too bad, and luckily empty of other people. "C'mon guys!" I called out, dropping the cooler which I drag onto the beach to check for people. I saw four blurs out of the corner of my eye before I saw them drop into the water. Max and Fang walked towards me with the others' towels, and dropped them beside the cooler. I laid mine out and grabbed a juice box from the cooler. Max did the same, and sat beside me, while Fang laid out his towel and then ran to join the others. Valencia had set herself up a little ways away in a little sunny spot to read the book she had brought along.

After finishing my juice, I nudged Max. "Wanna wrestle in the water?" I asked nonchalantly. I was genuinely interested in who would win. We were about the same height, but she had a bit of a thinner build. It was hard to judge which of us had more muscle, and we both had different life-or-death experiences that the other didn't know about.

She grinned in response, and we raced to the water. We stood about half way up our thighs in the water, and I took up a neutral fighting stance, using the loose sand to half bury my feet for steadiness. Max took up a defensive pose, and we both stood there for a couple seconds, eyeing each other.

She attacked first, jumping at me, and sending a couple punches my way. I dodged the first one, and the second nearly landed, skimming across my left shoulder, while I sent a counter-attack. I aimed towards her abdomen with a punch and followed it through by throwing my torso forwards to push her back a bit.

We both resumed our stances, and I barely took a second before going on the offensive myself. I sent a flurry of punches at Max, quite a few of which she blocked effectively, but otherwise she had to step backwards to avoid them.

Finally she grabbed both of my hands, and we both pushed against the other, trying to push each other over first. We were fairly evenly matched until Max unfurled her wings flew up, still holding my hands for a second before dropping me out over deeper water.

I pencil dived and swam back up, taking a deep breath of air and grinned up at Max. "We'll call it a tie." I said at which she dived into the water beside me.

"Yeah. Sure. A tie. Right up until I totally won that." She replied, splashing me with water.

We fooled around until we all got hungry, and so we all sat on our towels to dry off. Valencia handed out the sandwiches and juice boxes.

It was nearly sunset by the time we headed back towards the cabin. We decided to wait until we were all mostly dry to head back, and we had sat around just talking about pointless things. It felt normal, and I was really comfortable around the Flock. All of us were different in our own ways, with some similar experiences, which made us able to relate to each other, and maybe even trust each other a bit.

It was too bad that while I was having fun, I hadn't noticed the two pairs of eyes watching us from the bushes, nor had anyone else.

**Author's Note: **Alas, there's another chappie! I'd now like to turn your eyes towards yourselves! If that was physically possible without a mirror, anyways.

Leprechaun13 : Me? A genius? Surely you kid. But thank you very much!

firedrakegirl: Thank you, I sometimes have to try really hard to get what I want to come out in my writing to work, so thank you very much. Other times it just flows like a rapid river and I just can't keep up.

Joan MacLaren: It is a girl, since this is an alternate universe fic. It came about that way from my friend saying something really funny when we'd been talking about a potential AR/MR crossover. We were very tired and had energy drinks, and I decided to run with it. But terribly sorry if that wasn't very clear, for you, or anyone else who read and wasn't sure.


	6. Chapter 6

**So, um, you are all free to shoot me, or something. I will say things like a death in the family, college applications, work, school, college and computer problems, AKA crashing, several viruses, and then getting a new one and setting it up, have prevented me from writing, but it was also partially due to some good ole-fashioned writer's block, and my own procrastination/laziness. **

**So here I was, trying to work on four major projects that are due next week, when I was like, "Okay, I've put it off long enough. I'M GOING TO WRITE CHAPTER SIX!" And so here we are. I haven't abandoned you, and as a form of apology, I give you this hopefully epic chapter of hopeful epicness. Feel free to metaphorically stone me for nay reason, or come to my house and demand over my shoulder that I write, next time. And I will try to get Chapter seven done, however I'm in my last two weeks of college term, so you can hopefully expect that it will be after December 16th, as that is when my last exam is.**

**Again, I apologize, and hope you enjoy! (:**

I pulled the cooler into the kitchen, leaning against a wall after dropping it. I wasn't tired but I couldn't breathe. I was laughing too hard, having seen some of Gazzy's more, mischievous, talents.

"No, but really, he's always so serious!" Gazzy exclaimed, "_Alex do this, Alex do that_." He added, only, it wasn't his voice. It was Yassen's.

I hadn't known about Gazzy's ability to imitate anyone, or anything, perfectly. On our walk to the cabin, Valencia had started talking with me about how Yassen was ordering me around. She was concerned, and I reassured her, in my life, it was, and would probably continue to be, normal. Gazzy chimed in at that time, walking behind me, and, in Yassen's voice, calmly commanded me to turn around slowly.

I nearly freaked. And by freaked, I mean I whipped around ready to punch the living daylights out of Yassen. Only, he hadn't been there. And Gazzy had been grinning widely, even when I punched him in the arm, having had to redirect my attack. He had ended up laughing at my reaction, but almost crying in pain. I'd been aiming to hit Yassen, a full-grown man, not Gazzy. I'd felt a little bad, but I also pointed out to him, that he kind of deserved it. Max had actually agreed with me on that point.

During the rest of the walk, he kept saying things in Yassen's voice. Things that not even Yassen would have said, but it was funny as all hell, especially when Gazzy started skipping and singing 'I'm so pretty, oh so pretty!'. After that point, I'd been laughing too hard to really catch my breath.

The van was gone, so we assumed that Yassen and K-Unit had gone to do groceries. They had left the door unlocked, which was lucky for us, but creepy as all hell for us as well. Unlocked doors to private places seemed to give off creepy vibes to teen spies and bird kids alike. After assuring that house was indeed safe, we dragged our butts inside.

Gazzy kept making imitations, and we all just sat in the living room, laughing. Valencia was sitting on the couch, my file once again in hand, and we just sat in a circle on the floor, with Total in Angel's lap, letting her softly pet him. Gazzy kept doing imitations, which was pretty much our form of entertainment. Moving on to more 'material', Gazzy started imitating K-Unit as well, throwing in a few quips in Max's voice, which seemed to make her angry. Yet, she couldn't stop laughing long enough to actually get mad at the Gasman.

Unfortunately for us, we couldn't see the front door from where we were sitting. So only as I leaned back to lean on the couch, and I looked up, I saw Yassen standing behind Gazzy, in the doorway to the living room. I sobered up fairly quickly, forcing myself to hold back every laugh, as Gazzy started imitating Yassen again.

I grabbed one of the sheets of my file from behind me, crumpled it up, and threw it at Gazzy to get his attention. When he looked at me annoyed, I just pointed to behind him. I desperately held back a grin, trying to calm down while we all stopped laughing. We stared at the assassin, trying to judge his next actions.

Surprisingly, it was Valencia who spoke first. "They were only having fun with each other's talents, Yassen. No need to glare or anything. They're kids, no matter what you say, and they are allowed to have fun." She said rather sternly. I felt her stand up behind me and watched as she grabbed the paper from Gazzy and flattened it out. I couldn't see her expression, but from what I could see from Yassen, he was, a little shocked that she would have the nerve to talk to him like that.

Personally, I was in awe, and almost saw her as my personal savior from the man. She just stood up to him, just like that. Considering her past, and the kids she looked after though, it shouldn't have been surprising. Valencia was certainly the protective mother bear in all this.

It seemed Eagle almost had the same opinion as me. "That's it. I'm dubbing you, in tradition with SAS code names, Mother Bear." He said from behind Yassen. It was just like him, to think of something like that, of course.

Looking around Yassen into the den-ish part of the house, I saw K-Unit standing there, moving grocery bags around. It seemed like they had bought a lot. And I mean a lot. Wolf alone was holding six or seven stuffed bags.

I got up and pushed past Valencia and Yassen to go help. Max, Fang and Iggy followed behind me and Snake directed us to the van. I wasn't ready for what I saw.

Almost the whole far back seat of the van was stacked with groceries. I'd said get a lot, but I wasn't even sure if we'd be here long enough to even use all this. Admittedly though, the Flock did eat a lot, so not much would go to waste. I reached through the back of the van, and grabbed as many bags as I could, six, before shuffling off back into the house. I couldn't wait for the others; there was too much to carry.

I dropped my bags in the kitchen, where Valencia and Yassen had started working to put things away. The atmosphere was tense, and neither of them was talking. On my way back out, I looked at Gazzy and Angel for an explanation. Both of them shrugged, and I headed back out, passing Nudge Fang and Max on my way.

Iggy was in the back of the van, handing bags to Ben, who passed them to Eagle and Snake. Wolf was working from the back, and grabbing his own stuff. I went to where he was, and grabbed more stuff. With Max coming back out for the last two bags, the six of us hauled the last of the groceries inside. Iggy closed the doors of the van, and followed us inside.

Yassen and Valencia were still working in silence, and as we all put down our loads, we watched as they worked to empty the bags, maneuvering around the small-ish kitchen. We would've all helped, but with the groceries and the tension, not to mention the lack of space for more than three people at most in the kitchen space, we all didn't want to risk it.

So we all stood awkwardly watching them work. Angel and Gazzy came and stood with us, Angel grabbing my hand and Max's and standing between us. About five minutes passed, with moments where Valencia would smile at us, and Yassen would glance at us, no emotion, like usual.

"So, um," Gazzy started, causing both Valencia and Yassen to stop and look at him. "When's dinner?" He asked a little sheepishly.

The Flock smiled, and Iggy gave a laugh. "Of course you would be thinking about that, Gaz. The tension is visible to even me, and I'm blind!" He said. Valencia smiled and stepped out of the kitchen past the little half-way bar setup, and ruffled Gazzy's hair, giving him a little hug.

"Just let me put away the rest of the stuff, and then we can get dinner started, okay?" She said. She looked at everyone, smiling. "What is every in the mood for?"

"Pizza!"

"Burgers!"

"Stir fry!"

"Filet Mignon!" Was the reply from Total, sitting on a chair in the corner.

I looked at her seriously. "Cookies. Yassen threw mine out the window on the ride here." I threw him a small glare. Beside me, I heard Max gasp.

She stomped over to him, and actually poked him in the chest, emphasizing each word. "My. Mother. Worked. Hard. To. Make. Those. Cookies! A-pol-o-gize!" With the last word she pointed at her mother while also poking Yassen in the chest. He moved her hand.

"It had to be done. Alex was intentionally making Eagle jealous, and it was giving me a migraine." He explained. Max shook her head.

"No excuse. Say you're sorry. Else you'll regret it." I somehow didn't doubt that she was serious. Max seemed to take cookies as a serious matter. I shrugged at Yassen when he glanced at me, feigning perfect innocence.

"Well, then I apologize. However, if Alex tries to brag, and Eagle complains, then there will be consequences." He replied coolly, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms. He raised an eyebrow at Valencia, who gave a curt nod.

"Apology accepted. And I'll make enough cookies for Eagle to have some too." She said, smiling a little at Eagle, who seemed overly excited.

I looked at Eagle, grinning. "Come on, we should get these groceries put away. We'll have to earn those cookies, else Snake and the Sergeant will have our heads for eating 'junk'." I used air quotes on junk, and then grabbed some bags and started unloading them.

Eagle nodded, and started putting away the cans as I handed to him. Yassen stayed where he was, watching, and Valencia started pulling out several vegetables and ingredients for stir fry.

Gazzy and Iggy hopped up on the bar stools and watched as Valencia got to work, dicing chicken and vegetables, occasionally asking Yassen to grab something for her. It was crowded, but it worked. K-Unit went to the kitchen table to set it up, and Angel, Max, Fang and Nudge went to the living room.

"So, I'm supposing there isn't much kid-friendly stuff to do around here?" I asked Yassen while grabbing yet another bag of groceries and started unpacking it. Crackers, pudding, fruit cups. Snack things for kids. It was good stuff, and I was glad that the 'team' had thought of everything.

"Not really, so I did buy a DVD player and some movies. As well as some board games. I wasn't sure what they were into." He replied."But you don't need to worry about that. You'll be preoccupied enough." I could almost hear the smile in his words. _'You're going to be training so hard; you won't have time for fun.'_ Was what I could feel he was saying. Valencia picked up on it too, though. She was wiser than he judged her to be, I think.

"You won't be running Alex until she's so exhausted she can't even relax. I won't have it." She said curtly, continuing to brandish a chef's knife while preparing dinner. Gazzy looked worried, and Eagle stood from where he was putting things in the bottom of the fridge.

"I'm getting out of here." Eagle said quickly. "I don't want to learn what happens when someone crosses him." Gazzy nodded, and followed the childish SAS man out to the living room.

Iggy sat up a bit. He seemed interested in what would happen next, and I moved really slowly, keeping my vision strictly on the stuff in front of me. I kind of knew what would normally happen when someone crossed Yassen; he'd kill them. Or, at least, seriously injure them. I glanced quickly at them; Yassen had leaned back on the counter, no emotion. Valencia was sternly cutting up her bell peppers, almost like she was imagining each one to be Yassen.

"I can respect your opinion, Ms. Martinez," Yassen started. "However, Alex's training is none of your concern, therefore, you are not in a position to discuss, with me, that matter."

Valencia whipped around so fast, half of a bell pepper fell to the floor. Total hopped off of Gazzy's abandoned chair, and grabbed it up, sending me a wink in the process. I gave him a small smile, before turning around to put some frozen veggies in the freezer. I glanced under the door, to see Valencia holding the chef's knife to Yassen chest. He still stood the calmly, staring her down.

Iggy came and stood beside me, grabbing my arm to get my attention. I was really tense, and flinched a bit when he did, though.

"What's happening?" He whispered directly in my ear. He was staring at my head, a frown on his face.

"Val's got a knife to Yassen's chest. He's just standing there all 'higher than thou' and staring at her." I whispered very quietly back. I was waiting for what would happen next, standing there like a deer caught in headlights, with Iggy almost pressing me up to the fridge in an almost protective manner, while also wanting to know what was going on.

_"Why's everyone so tense in there?"_ Angel mind-asked. I mentally shook my head, telling her I couldn't explain right now. The freezer door was still open, and starting to make my head cold, but I felt like it was almost a shield in between me, and the two of them.

"Alex does not deserve to be treated like, like, absolute shit by you, of all people! You don't realize how much that hurts her, don't you? She felt like you were the last connection to her parents, and then you died. Can you even imagine how she feels now that it turns out that you're alive? Have you even _considered_ talking to her about it? I don't care what you say, Alex is still a kid, and she needs people to talk to, and open up to! Not some cold-hearted_ bastard_ assassin who's going to run her into the ground! Don't even try to say that it doesn't matter! Because it does! She needs someone caring to help her, and you're not caring at all! All you've done since you sat down at the Starbuck's is act like an uptight, uncaring ASSHOLE!" Valencia had slammed the knife down, pointy end into the counter beside Yassen, before yelling at him.

As she was yelling, Iggy pushed me away from the fridge, closed the freezer, and sat me up into the corner of the counter. He kept a hand on my knee, and squeezed my other hand. I was shaking a bit. I was actually scared of Valencia. Mother Bear did not even begin to cover it. I was in shock, and even Yassen had a small, albeit very small, look of surprise on his face. He clearly hadn't expected her to burst like that, but then again, seeing K-Unit and the Flock peak around corners, I don't think any of us did.

A lot of what she said had been true. She had read my file, which I'd forgotten also contained notes from a psychologist from the few times I'd seen one. Plus some of my own sort of 'journal' entries that those same doctors requested I write, if I wasn't going to talk about it.

It was a small kitchen. Small enough that when Angel beckoned Iggy and I through her mind to leave the kitchen and get to them, Iggy shook his head. To leave the kitchen, we would have to walk right past the two of them. And as Yassen straightened to his full height to tower over Valencia, that wasn't going to be possible.

With almost barely contained rage, Yassen stared down at Valencia, taking small steps forward forcing her to back up until she was against a counter. I tried to hop off the counter to push them apart, but Iggy held me there, shaking his head a bit. "They're going to have to sort it out." He whispered.

"Clearly, you are concerned about Alex's well-being. Again, though, her training is not your responsibility. As you have been reading her file, against my wishes, but with her permission, then you understand that there are a lot of people who would love to kill her. The majority of these people will stop at nothing, and so it is in Alex's best interests to be trained to handle these situations. While she does have other matters to also take care of, I was not, as you assumed, planning on just leaving such issues in the dark. It is part of her training from me to work through them." He spoke too calmly, standing over Valencia, who was visibly a little scared, but kept up a brave face. "If you are interested, you may also help, but Alex also has a say in the matter." I was a little shocked at his offer, and so was Valencia.

Valencia relaxed a little. "Fine. But I still feel, that if you are going to be her caretaker, you're going to have to learn to shown some goddamn emotions." She added, holding out her hand as though they were making a deal.

Yassen nodded, and they actually shook on it. The tension dissipated almost immediately, and Iggy allowed me off the counter. I wasn't quite sure how I felt. I was thankful for Valencia almost defending me like she had, but I felt it was awfully idiotic of her as well. I was kind of mad at Yassen, but thankful he a) didn't hurt Valencia, and b) had seemed to come to an agreement with her. Overall, though, I didn't really like being talked about and argued over while I was right there.

I gave Iggy a little hug. "Thanks." I said, still quiet. The others were still watching in fascination as Valencia went and grabbed the knife, before swiftly finishing chopping the vegetables. Yassen glanced at me, and motioned for Iggy and I to leave the kitchen.

"I'll finish this. You two go sit with the others." He still seemed too calm, but I took it as he wanted to continue the discussion without freaking us all out.

I grabbed Iggy's hand, and as I walked past Valencia, she gave a light tap on my shoulder. I smiled at little, before we joined the flock in the living room. I motioned everyone out the back door.

The sun had long set, so we were having a very late dinner. Glancing at my watch, it was almost nine thirty. I stopped once we were all on the back grass, and turned around. "So, do any of you know the constellations?" I asked.

Angel held up her hand. "Like, the big dipper? We know that one."

I nodded. "Yup, that's a constellation. But, I've always loved to stargaze, partially, I'm guessing because my uncle raised me to have such survival skills. So, I'm going to show you some. Everyone sit down, and let's get looking!"

I looked around, before finding a good amount of small pebbles. I laid them out. "So I'll tell you about the constellation, and I lay out the rocks in the shape of it, so Iggy can kind of get what they look like too." I explained.

We sat outside, for about forty minutes, rearranging pebbles as I explained the stories behind them. Finally, Snake called us back in, and we rushed inside, all extremely hungry.

The table had been expanded, and K-Unit had brought in a couple more chairs from god knows where. I took my seat semi-reluctantly beside Yassen, with Valencia across from us. I smiled a bit though when Iggy sat beside me, and shook my shoulder a bit.

K-Unit brought in platefuls of fried vegetables, chicken and rice and tortillas. "I decided to make a little mix, so you can have stir-fry, or quesadillas if you want." Valencia explained.

She looked around a bit, and smiled. "Let's eat!"


	7. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Author's Note:

I realize it's been a long time since I updated, and I'm terribly sorry about that. There have been a few deaths in the family, and a couple scares as well. I ended up moving four times last year, and am now managing my own life, paying rent, and desperately looking for a job. I also changed post-secondary programs, and am now taking computer programming, which is a more intensive program than I had been taking. So a lot of things have prevented me from even looking at any of my personal writing.

That said, I am terribly sorry to those who have been following this story.

Good news though! I have started/continued writing the next chapter. I'm not sure when it'll be added up, but I'm past a block, and think I know where I wanted to go with this.

Again, I'm super-duper sorry for the long wait! I hope to update soon!


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